


Teddy Lupin: Auror Investigation Squad

by wildcatpatronus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror, Aurors, Crime, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Ministry of Magic, Mystery, Next Gen, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-06-02 08:46:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6559837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildcatpatronus/pseuds/wildcatpatronus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy graduated Hogwarts with top grades, as Head Boy. Now, two years later, at the age of nineteen, he goes to work at the Auror Department and finds himself investigating some of the strangest crimes in the Wizarding World.</p><p>Updated every other Thursday. Co-written with EskLee of Fanfiction.net.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day

Teddy’s studio apartment was littered with clothing. Trousers were strewn across the floor, shirts lay under the many cloaks and jackets on his bed, and only his socks seemed to have stayed in the drawers. Everything he tried on felt wrong. Whether it was too Muggle, too unprofessional, or too formal, nothing he had in his closet felt right for his first day at the Ministry of Magic. Each jacket was tossed aside for being too short in length. Adult wizards wore robes, not leather jackets, he had to keep reminding himself. His trousers were the only simple thing about his outfit. They were simple, black, and skinny-legged -- but was he supposed to wear boots or shoes?

Harry usually wore boots, but they were short ones that were covered by his trousers most of the time. Teddy’s godfather tended to lean towards a more Muggle style, but he never looked out of place in the Wizarding world, either. Teddy stared at his options. The shoes were too shiny and new for now; he would have to wear the boots. After all, unless he was out with his godfather, he wouldn’t have to worry about being stopped in the street if he stayed in Wizarding London.

Teddy now looked at the shirts, searching for one that didn’t require a tie, and spotted a dark teal shirt that had a band collar. He quickly buttoned it up and added a light grey vest before pulling on the long, dark brown coat that Harry had given him for his seventeenth birthday. Teddy glanced at himself in the mirror, deciding after a moment that he liked the overall look. He squinted slightly and focused on his favorite color, watching as his hair turned from mouse brown to turquoise. Then he picked up his wand and ID badge and placed them in a pocket.

His eyes lingered for a moment on the picture frame on his nightstand. He watched as a pink-haired woman and a worn-out looking man smiled up at him before kissing one another. He hoped his parents would have been happy with his career path. Harry had been less than thrilled at first to hear that his godson wanted to follow in his footsteps after Hogwarts. For most of his first year at WOMBAT (Wretchedly Obligatory Mastery of Basic Auror Training), Teddy had found most of his family trying to talk him out of the profession that he’d chosen. To his surprise, however, Harry had convinced them that it was the right -- though very dangerous -- path for him.

Stuffing a quick piece of toast into his mouth, Teddy threw a fistful of Floo Powder into his fireplace and watched the green flames dance into life. Then, with all of the confidence that he could muster, Teddy walked inside, cried “The Ministry of Magic!” and was engulfed by a strange tingling sensation, which was followed by the feeling of his feet slamming into the ground. Teddy opened his eyes to see the grand Atrium of the Ministry before him.

Even though he had been here multiple times throughout his life, Teddy still couldn’t quite grasp how large the Atrium actually was. There was a small cough behind him, and Teddy stepped aside to allow another wizard to exit the fireplace. He circled around the fountain, which now stood as a memorial for everyone who died during the Ministry’s fall in the Second Wizarding War, and joined the line of people waiting patiently for the lift.

As he shuffled into the lift with at least a dozen other people, Teddy watched as paper airplane-shaped memos flew in from above their heads. The gates closed and the lift pushed back, shooting upwards quickly. Teddy only had to wait seconds before the lift moved towards an entrance, and a cool, magically amplified voice said, “Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services.”

Teddy pushed his way out onto the floor. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement was by far the biggest in the Ministry, and it showed in the floor plan. There were guidance signs all over the walls to help people navigate to different sub-departments. Teddy briefly saw Hermione at the other end of the hall; he waved to her before taking an immediate left and making his way past the Hit Wizards Department and the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. Then he opened a set of heavy oaken doors, revealing a small room that contained just one desk, with a waterfall on each side.

“Badge and wand, please,” a raspy voice said at once, and Teddy looked down to see a small elderly lady holding out her hand.

Teddy presented both to her and watched as she pulled out a pair of glasses with multiple lenses, using them to examine both his wand and badge closely.

“Your wand is 10 ¼ inches, apple, with a unicorn tail hair, yes?” she asked.

Teddy nodded and waited as she continued to look at his wand. Her silence carried on until she spoke again.

“I’ll need an audible confirmation, hon.”

“Oh, sorry -- yes, that’s correct.”

She nodded and set the wand aside, now staring at his badge. “This wand belongs to Edward Remus Lupin, aged 19. You are an Auror Level One, as well as a known Metamorphmagus. Your Patronus is a European wildcat. Do you confirm that’s you?”

Teddy suddenly felt his tongue roll up before it relaxed just as suddenly, allowing him to confirm this statement, too. The old woman smiled up at him and handed back his wand and badge.

“It’s all right, hon, it’s just a lie detection spell; all very standard. You’ve been assigned to Auror Jebediah Morris of the Investigation Department. Just step through the waterfall to the left and then take your first right. His offices are right next to the stairs.”

She waved him through and began the process anew with the person behind him. Teddy stared momentarily at the waterfall in front of him before taking a cautious step through. He felt the water beat against his head but emerged dry on the other side. He stared at a mirror directly across from him and saw that his hair was once again its natural mouse brown. Looking back at the waterfall, Teddy now recognized it as the Thief’s Downfall, a spell-canceling security measure that Harry had told him about. Teddy quickly returned his hair back to its turquoise color and, following the old woman’s directions, took the first right, revealing a large open area divided into small cubicles. He walked straight across the room until he reached a group of cubicles next to a set of stairs.

This area consisted of four cubicles set up in a square formation. Only one was currently occupied. The man inside it, who looked to be only a few years older than Teddy, was staring intently at a box on his desk. Teddy cleared his throat slightly and the man jumped to his feet.

“I’m sorry -- is this your desk? They only told me today that I was being transferred from Forensics and Development. I’m Peter Dorneget.” The man held out his hand, and Teddy shook it.

“Teddy Lupin. It’s my first day,” he said.

Peter smiled. He had brown skin and black hair and was wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and a striking, lime green tie.

“Ah, you’re a probie! I myself have just been promoted to Level Three, but this is the first time I’ve been in Investigation. I’ve been in Forensics since I started at the Office.”

Peter sat back down and gestured for Teddy to take the desk next to his before returning his attention to the box on his desk. Teddy was about to ask what it was when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Looks like you and I are still partners in crime, Lupin.”

Teddy turned abruptly in his chair, smiling widely as a dark-haired, pale-skinned woman wearing a beanie grinned back at him.

“Whistler! No way -- we got the same assignment?”

Teddy hadn’t seen Whistler Shacklebolt in over a month. They had been in the same year at WOMBAT, although she was two years older than he was. They had become fast friends after they’d been partnered in Advanced Dueling during their second week. Whistler sat down on the desk across from Teddy and nodded over at Peter, raising her eyebrows. Teddy cleared his throat, prompting Peter to divert his attention from the mysterious box and introduce himself to Whistler.

“Shacklebolt? Really?” he said. “You’re not by any chance related to the Minister, are you?”

Whistler nodded, her smile only faltering slightly.

“He’s my dad. Adoptive, obviously.”

Now there was only one empty desk. Teddy wondered what Morris would be like. Out of all the cubicles, his was the only desk with any personal effects on it. Papers were strewn all over, and “Wanted” posters were pegged over every inch of the wall, dark faces staring back at whoever they made eye contact with. Teddy gritted his teeth and looked away.

More people were in the office now. Some looked as if they had spent the night on the streets and were only stopping in the office before going to bed for the day, while others clutched their coffee cups and did their best to wake up. There were several people whom Teddy recognized from his and Whistler’s class at WOMBAT. Like Teddy, they were glancing around the office, unsure of what the day would bring; Teddy smiled at the few he made eye contact with.

The bustle of the early work day was already surprising him. While he knew that not every day was going to involve battling Dark wizards in a duel or even working in the field, his extensive training had made him feel as if he should expect it. But from his impressions this morning, the daily life of an Auror seemed to involve a lot of time sitting at a desk, performing various tasks. Teddy wasn’t sure what to think.

Suddenly, everyone in the office seemed to stop what they were doing. Even Peter looked up from his mysterious box. Teddy glanced at the first landing of the stairs, trying to figure out what everyone was looking at, and spotted his godfather -- who also happened to be Head of the Auror Department -- standing with his hands on the rails and looking down at the entire office.

“Morning, everyone,” he said. “I know this is going to be a busy week, what with September 1st and getting our kids off to Hogwarts safely, but I know we can make things work with a little shuffling around. If you want to accompany a child or a friend to the platform, please put your name on the list at the end of the corridor, and we’ll make accommodations for you until after eleven o’clock. Now, as you know, WOMBAT recently graduated five bright new Aurors, and today is their first official day of work. We’ve got Atlas Denbright, who’s joined the Tactical and Strategic Department; Indus Tremlett and Celia Stockdale in Forensics and Research; and then Whistler Shacklebolt and Edward Lupin in the Investigation and Tracking Department. To you five, I say welcome and congratulations. It’s rare that we get so many new Aurors in one year, so well done and good luck. Everyone, please find a moment to introduce themselves to the new recruits in your department so that they can start to get to know everyone. Have a good day.”

Harry finished speaking and walked back up the stairs toward his office. Teddy caught his godfather’s eyes; Harry smiled and gave him a small wave before retreating into his office and closing the door. Teddy wasn’t surprised that Harry hadn’t said anything outright, as it wasn’t common knowledge that the Head Auror was his godfather.

He hadn’t realized that so few people from his class had passed the final exams, either. Two years ago, WOMBAT had accepted seventy new students into their program. By Teddy’s second year, only thirty remained, and now, out of the fifteen of them who had opted to take the final exams, only five of them had passed.

Teddy didn’t have much time to dwell on that, however. Almost as soon as Harry shut his door, the noise and commotion started up again. More people stopped by his and Whistler’s desks, introducing themselves quickly before continuing with their day. Every time someone came up, Teddy wondered if they were Auror Morris, but each time, he was disappointed.

Then a man with salt and pepper hair came striding into their section of cubicles. He was wearing almost all black, minus the lining of his cloak, which was blood red. He didn’t look at any of them; instead, he picked up a few sheets of papers from his desk and walked back out. Teddy, Whistler, and Peter stared at one another, unsure of what they were supposed to do. The man’s face appeared around the corner.

“Come on,” he said gruffly. “We’ve got a body in Diagon Alley.” He shook his head before disappearing around the corner.

Whistler jumped off of her desk and followed him, while Peter grabbed a bag from a drawer in his desk before he and Teddy set off, too. They caught up to Whistler and the man who must be Morris by the waterfalls. Morris passed through, and Teddy saw him set a paper cup in front of the old woman before continuing to the lifts.

“Enjoy the morning tea, Gladys,” he said over his shoulder as he held the door open for the rest of them. Once they were all in the lift, it closed, and Morris pressed the button for Level One before turning around to face the three of them.

“Right, my name is Jedediah Morris, I’m your superior, I’m here to train the two of you,” he said to Teddy and Whistler. “And Dorneget, I had you transferred here from Forensics because you’re the best at what you do, and I heard you were interested in being in the field more. Do your jobs, follow my rules, and we won’t have any problems.”

Morris turned back to the front of the lift just as the doors were opening to the Atrium. He led them to one of the fireplaces, said “Gringotts,” and then stepped into the fire. Peter went next, followed by Whistler, and then finally Teddy, who stepped into the fire only to land seconds later on the marble floors of Gringotts Bank.


	2. The Goblin's Contract

Teddy stepped out of the fireplace and onto Gringotts’ marble floors. Already there were more people present than just their team of Aurors. To Teddy’s surprise, the bank seemed to be open. The goblins were at their stations, helping any wizard who came through the large doors at the end of the hall. Teddy stepped away from the fireplace and joined his team a few feet away. While Teddy had been to Gringotts many times before, it had always been on the other side of the counters. He doubted that many wizards were allowed in this area. 

Teddy, Peter, and Whistler followed Morris out of the main area of Gringotts and into a back room which looked much more like a typical business area, with cubicles lining the floor. Teddy glanced at the various doors as they walked past. There were vault maintenance, authentication, and theft prevention departments, and as Teddy peeked through the open theft prevention department door, he could see that there were just as many wizards working at the bank as the goblins. Morris held open a door that lead to a small room, where a single goblin sat at the end of a large table.

Morris gestured for all of them to sit, while he continued standing near the doorway. “Morning, Graekaris,” he said. “These are the three I’ll need to take down to the vault with me.”

Graekaris folded his hands on the table and looked at all three of them closely. His eyes were black -- either all pupil, or no pupil at all -- and when the goblin smiled, Teddy felt as if someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt. Graekaris looked back at Morris and nodded. With a flick of Morris’ wand, a small stack of paper appeared in front of each of them, along with a quill.

“These are goblin contracts,” said Graekaris. “They’re approved by your Ministry. You need to sign them before we can allow you to enter a vault that is not yours, or have access to the inner workings of this fine establishment.”

Teddy stared down at the papers and then back up at Morris, who insisted that they read them thoroughly before signing them. Teddy nodded and began to look through the papers. Every paragraph was written in both Gobbledegook and English. The clauses included the rules and restrictions as to what they could tell others about the bank, which was effectively nothing, and the consequences of what would happen if they did: a magically enforced punishment to be determined by the Gringotts goblins for any extended period of time, as long as the punishment itself wasn’t illegal in the Ministry of Magic’s eyes.

It also covered a rather detailed description of what would happen should any of them remove something from the bank without the express permission of the goblins. This included anything they might want to log in to evidence -- which, if the proper procedure was not followed, would be considered theft. And the punishment for theft -- an odd shiver ran down Teddy’s spine -- seemed to involve being locked in a vault for whatever length of time pleased the goblins most.

Further down, the papers included a clause allowing for indentured servitude if you failed to initial in the provided space. Another allowed for any goblin treasure to be given back to the goblins at the time of your death if you _did_ initial. It also insisted on listing the family members you’d want to inform if you died while on the Gringotts premises.

On the whole, Teddy found the document to be much less about wanting to ensure the security of Gringotts, and much more about wanting to secure as much treasure and service from wizards as possible. He raised an eyebrow at Morris, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest. He merely shook his head at Teddy, and mimed with his hand to go ahead and sign the document.

It was then that Teddy noticed that the goblins had not provided any ink for the quills. Examining their crimson feathers more closely, he realized with a jolt that they were blood quills. He glared at Graekaris, who merely exposed his razor-sharp teeth in a smile in return.

Teddy was careful to reread the contract as he signed, initialed, and marked all of the places required of him, feeling the quill scratch his signature into the skin of his hand each time. The cuts healed quickly, and would not leave a scar, but the goblin’s insistence on signing with blood angered him greatly. After he signed his name at the bottom of the very last page, the contact bound itself together and flew into Graekaris’ hands. Seconds later, both Peter’s and Whistler’s contracts did the same.

“All right. Now that that’s done, Graekaris, could we please be escorted to the vault in which the body was found?” Morris asked.

Graekaris nodded and snapped his fingers. Another goblin came running into the conference room, his keys jangling with every step, and told them to follow him. His voice was not deep and gravelly like Graekaris’, but squeaky and so high-pitched that it hurt Teddy’s ears.

They trailed this goblin back into the main hall of Gringotts, and then through a small door at the end of the hall that opened up to reveal the cave system in which every vault was housed. All five of them piled into one of the carts, which zoomed them down one of the many tracks, quickly taking them into the lower depths of the caves.

Teddy glanced at Peter, who seemed to be slowly turning a shade of green. Teddy quickly conjured a bag and offered it to him. Peter took it, and then quickly expelled the contents of his breakfast inside. Finally, when the cart came to a stop, Peter practically jumped onto solid ground while the others slowly clambered out. To Teddy’s surprise, there was already someone else standing next to the vault door.

“Bill, what are you doing here?” he asked. The ponytailed and fang-earringed Weasley smiled and waved at Teddy. 

“The goblins asked that I be present as a Gringotts employee, to make sure that none of you break the terms of your contract. Usually someone from the Ministry would be fine, but...”

Bill stopped talking as the goblin ran his fingernail down the middle of the vault door. The resulting noise was so terrible that Teddy had to cover his ears. The others looked at him, confused, although he thought Bill’s face also looked rather strained.

“I have sensitive ears,” said Teddy shortly. The vault door swung open, and Morris and the others stepped inside. Teddy looked back at Bill, who was rubbing his ears slightly. 

“Why don’t the goblins want someone from the Ministry?” Teddy asked.

“Because your godfather runs the Auror department, and he’s the only person alive to successfully break into Gringotts.” Bill smiled and gestured for Teddy to enter the vault. The scene inside was similar to the Black family vault: full of gold, jewels and other treasures. This one, however, had one extra detail.

The body of a goblin lay sprawled on the floor. It was almost unrecognizable, due to the amount of gutting that had occurred. Spatters of goblin blood covered a majority of the room -- there was a blueish-green tint to much of the gold in the vault. Whistler was already cataloguing several areas, marking spaces with small numbers that floated above each spot that she found to be important. Peter kneeled next to the goblin’s body, noting down various measurements while a tape measure unfurled itself and grew to the body’s length.

“Cause of death was definitely wand magic,” said Peter, not looking up from the body. “The cut marks are far too thin to be from the goblins -- though I’ve never seen a curse that makes these sorts of markings. They cut deep, through all the layers of skin and even some of the organs inside.” 

Morris nodded and conversed quietly with the goblin in Gobbledegook. Teddy bent down next to Peter and looked at the body. The cut marks were needle thin, and each was at least six inches long. They were angled and created a circular pattern from the center. 

“They used Sectumsempra,” said Teddy, looking up at Bill. “I’d recognize those markings anywhere.”

Morris nodded. “The victim’s name is Gilmrick. He’s worked here for over fifteen years in vault maintenance, though this vault is not in his section. Gophook here found him around nine this morning, when he started his usual rounds.” 

“There’s something else, Morris,” Peter said. “All of his fingers have been removed...and not by magic.” 

Both Whistler and Morris came over to look at the hands of the body. 

“See the fraying of the skin?” Peter asked. “Someone pulled his fingers off , they pulled the knuckles right out of the socket.” 

Whistler magically lifted up one of the hands and looked at the wounds more closely. “Was this done before or after death?” she asked. 

Peter pulled out a pair of glasses with multiple round lenses and put them on, looking at the hand closely. 

“I’m not an expert in goblin physiology, but from the coagulation of the blood, I’d wager before. And if what Teddy said is true, and Sectumsempra was used, then this goblin was tortured to death very slowly.”

“You sure about the curse, Lupin?” Morris asked. 

Teddy stood, stretching out the cramps in his legs, and looked around the room. “I’m sure. I’ve seen scars from it before. My uncle had the spell used on him during the war. They look just like that if someone makes a direct shot.”

Teddy walked around the room and looked at all of the pieces of evidence Whistler had noted. There was goblin blood in every nook and cranny of the room. Most of it was not even dry yet. Teddy stared at a mirror in the very back of the room. Blood was slowly dripping down the glass.

“Hey, Whistler, come and take a look at this."

She came over quickly, with Morris following close behind. “What’s up, Ted?”

He pointed to the mirror. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would blood be all the way over here? Actually, why is there blood all around the vault? Sectumsempra is a deadly spell, but it’s almost surgical, it’s so precise. There would be plenty of blood around the body where it’s oozed out slowly, but there wouldn’t be any spatter,” he said. 

Morris turned to Gophook. “When you did your inventory, was anything missing?” 

The goblin shook his head. Morris nodded. 

“All right, Whistler, you stay here and help Dorneget catalog all of the evidence. Get a camera out and take pictures of everything. Then find the owner of the vault and see if they can tell if anything’s been moved. Dorneget, finish your exam of the body, then take it to Forensics. Get me on your compact the second you have anything definite. Lupin, you’re coming with me. Back to headquarters.” He allowed them only a nod of agreement before he exited the vault. 

Gophook stayed in the vault watching Whistler and Peter, while Bill accompanied them back to the cart and sat in the driver’s position. Teddy and Morris climbed in behind. 

“Don’t you have to stay and supervise?” Teddy asked as they began moving on the tracks. 

Bill shook his head. “Gophook will watch them. The goblins want me to stick with you. They distrust anyone who puts Harry’s name down as Next of Kin on the contract.” Teddy stared at Bill, but Morris smiled wryly, as if he had been expecting an answer like that. 

They finally reached the top of the cavern, and the cart slowed to a stop. Bill hopped out, then offered his hand to both Teddy and Morris. The three of them walked back towards the entrance hall, which was now far busier than it had been earlier. Bill bade them goodbye and reminded Teddy that Victoire would murder them both if he missed her final send-off to Hogwarts before going into the back rooms.

“Morris! What business brings an Auror to Gringotts? Surely you’re not using Ministry time to visit your vault?” 

A man wearing a long leather coat and top hat approached from one of the counters. He carried a cane with an eagle ornately carved on top. His voice was deep and his beard was short, but nicely groomed. He held out his hand to Teddy.

“Bates Absinthe,” he said jovially. “I’m a member of the Wizengamot. I reckon you’re one of the new Aurors?” 

Teddy nodded and took his hand, noting that Bates was the type to squeeze painfully hard rather than shake. 

“Teddy Lupin.” Teddy did his best to crush Bates’ hands with equal pressure. 

Bates nodded and turned his attention back to Morris, whose hand he took only after wiping it on his jacket as if it were wet.

“So, what brings two Aurors to the bank?” he said. “I hope nothing ghastly has happened?” 

Morris kept his arms crossed and glared down at Bates.

“Just because you sit on the Wizengamot doesn’t mean you’re entitled to know the inside workings of the Auror department,” he said. “I’m here on official business, and that’s all you need to know.” 

Bates stepped aside and bowed slightly, opening a path for them to the door. 

“Don’t get your feathers in a ruffle,” he said. “I was just being friendly. I would never interfere with an official investigation.” 

Morris walked past him, Teddy at his side, and neither of them attempting to make any more conversation.

Once outside the bank, both Apparated back to the Ministry. Morris fixed himself another cup of tea before they walked over to their squad area. To Teddy’s surprise, Harry was leaning against Morris’ desk, sifting through the crime scene photos that Whistler had delivered via owl. He looked up when the two of them entered.

“Well, Morris, what’s your theory?” he asked.

Harry listened as Morris explained the setup of the crime scene, occasionally pointing out specifics on the pictures. When he got to the part about Teddy’s theory that Sectumsempra couldn’t possibly cause that amount of blood spatter, Harry nodded in agreement.

“So why do you think there is so much blood?” Harry asked, looking at Teddy.

Teddy shrugged his shoulders, unable to come up with an explanation. Harry turned to Morris.

“Well?”

Morris sifted through some of the photos, picking up a few close-ups of various objects. 

“Those are bloody goblin fingerprints. Someone took off the goblin’s digits and tested the prints on almost every object in that room. I’d bet a year’s salary that the murder wasn’t personal. Whoever killed this goblin needed his fingers for something in that vault.” 

Harry nodded and handed back the pictures to Morris. “So should I hand this off to Magical Law Enforcement, or do you think there’s cause for the Aurors to keep them?” he asked. 

“There’s more than a goblin murder going on here, Potter,” said Morris. “Whatever our killer was after, I don’t think he got it. I want to keep them. Try to catch the guy before he does this again.”

Harry nodded already heading back up the stairs. “It’s all yours, then. I’ll try to keep Skeeter off your back.” Harry disappeared into his office, Morris waving him off. 

Teddy, with no idea of what else to do, sat down at his cubicle and waited while Morris rummaged through his desk. 

“Lupin, catch.” Morris tossed a small, purple circular object towards him. Teddy barely managed to catch it. When he took a closer look, he found that it opened, revealing a small circular mirror. 

“That’s a compact,” said Morris. “It’s a magical two-way mirror that’s been enchanted to allow a connection with any other compact that it’s come into contact with. It’s already been connected to the rest of the team. Just say their name, and it will heat up in their pockets. Whistler sent over the name of the vault owner: Ezekiel Lewis. He lives in Appleby. I want you to go and talk to him. See if the goblins were telling the truth about nothing being taken.”


	3. Doomgate

Teddy had grown up with a grudge against Appleby. The Cumbrian town itself had nothing to do with it – it was his first time there, and until today, he’d had no intention of visiting. It was more that Ginny, his godmother and former chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, had seen her worst defeat when Gregory Cotton of the Appleby Arrows narrowly caught the snitch during the last game of his career. Teddy, being a good godson, had felt obligated to hate the place ever since. 

When Morris handed over the Apparition coordinates to him and Whistler, he felt a vague sense that something unpleasant waited for them in Appleby. He glanced over at Whistler.

“Sounds a bit funny, doesn’t he, this Ezekiel guy? No family… lives alone… no job that anyone knows of…”

“Or he’s lonely,” said Whistler. “His family could have been killed during the war – or maybe something happened and they got estranged. It’s not like he needs to work. You saw that vault.”

“Still, it’d be pretty boring just staying at home all day, wouldn’t it? He must do something.”

“Maybe he has a Muggle job,” said Whistler. “More people do than the Ministry thinks.”

They concentrated on the coordinates as the Ministry dissolved in a loud _crack_ , and they resurfaced on a grassy knoll bordering the River Eden. Teddy remembered Morris saying that they would have to walk for a few minutes. Along with wizards, there were plenty of Muggles living in Appleby, and convincing hysterical passers-by that they hadn’t just seen two cloaked figures materialize out of thin air was not exactly the Auror Department’s area.

“Right,” said Whistler, unfurling one of the scrolls Morris had given them as they started walking, “He lives right in the center of town – that’s ten points for my Muggle job theory right there. Too bad, Ted.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” said Teddy. “Ten galleons that he’s got nothing to do with the Muggle world.” He held out his hand. Whistler smirked in reply and shook.  
They strode away from the hill and towards a road that Teddy’s Four-Point spell assured him led straight into town.

“So we’re looking for…” He squinted down at another scroll, then blinked. “Doomgate? Seriously? That’s what it’s called?”

Whistler had a look, too. “Unless Morris has worse handwriting than Professor Trelawney, I’d say that’s it. It’s two streets away. Let’s go.”

Teddy’s Quidditch-inspired sense of foreboding lessened when they reached the Doomgate road itself, which turned out to be a fairly nondescript street surrounded by stone walls and Muggle houses. Lewis lived at the very end, in a flat-roofed white building across the street from a veterinary center.Whistler took advantage of Teddy’s momentary hesitation by rapping sharply on the front door.

The door swung open at once. It was as if the house had been expecting them all morning, and was simply waiting for them to drop by.

Ezekiel Lewis was older than Teddy, but not by much. Teddy pegged him somewhere around twenty-six or twenty-seven. He had brown hair similar to Teddy’s natural color, although it looked as if it had not been touched by scissors for several years. Teddy wrinkled his nose in disgust. Judging by the way he smelled, Ezekiel hadn’t showered in about that long, either.

Despite all of this, however, his robes had an undeniable brand new, expensive look. Teddy noticed the Twilfitt and Tatting’s logo on the corner of Lewis’ sleeve. The only people he knew to wear Twilfitt and Tatting’s were a pair of Slytherin twins from his year at Hogwarts whom he hadn’t particularly liked. They were heirs to the Zabini fortune and had made sure everyone knew it.

It seemed this man was of the same grain, despite his attempt at disaffected slovenliness. Teddy held out his hand for Lewis to shake.

“Teddy Lupin,” he said. “They told you we were coming, right? We’re from the Auror Office.” 

“Aye,” said Lewis, looking at him beadily.

“Whistler Shacklebolt,” said Whistler. She pursed her lips and did not shake his hand, keeping her arms crossed. “Can we come in?”

Lewis gave her a gruff nod and led the way inside the house. Teddy noticed at once that it had been magically enlarged with an Undetectable Extension Charm – probably an illegal one, considering that it was sitting right in the middle of a modern Muggle street. Lewis didn’t seem worried, and Teddy supposed he knew that such things weren’t in Aurors’ jurisdictions. From what he’d seen in Lewis’ vault, he probably had enough money to get himself out of trouble even if someone from the Improper Use of Magic office did come knocking.

Lewis showed them into a sitting room filled with antique furniture and sat across from them as Teddy and Whistler perched awkwardly on the edge of a divan.   
“Right,” he said. “So owz’t ga’an?”

Teddy and Whistler frowned at him. He rolled his eyes to the heavens, coughed, and said something that sounded distinctly like “ _Southerners!_ ”

“How,” he said, taking care to over-pronounce every word, “is it _going_? The investigation, I mean. Yous got anything yet?”

“Oh,” said Teddy. “Well, er – we don’t have much to go on just now. We were hoping you might help us out a bit.”

“Those bastards,” said Lewis, having a good scratch at his greasy scalp. “Taking what’s mine and gutting that goblin fella along the way. Geet bloody, from the look of it – I’ve got one of them new magic mirrors, shows me right inside my vault. Nasty shock when I woke up this morning and the Aurors owled. Sorry you had to see all that.”

“Well, if we had a problem looking at blood, I think we might have chosen a different career path,” said Whistler crisply. “Do you mind answering a few questions, Lewis?” she continued without giving him time to answer. “I noticed you said they ‘took what was yours’. Does that mean that the killer stole something?”

“Oh yes,” said Lewis, staring hard at Whistler. “The goblins didn’t tell yous? Damn creatures. I s’pose they wouldn’t.”

“What?” said Teddy. “You’re saying Graekaris lied to us on purpose?”

“Course,” said Lewis. “That vault was from my parents – Galleons and jewels and all. Yous might not be able to tell it, but I’m a Fawley, on me mammy’s side. Pureblood and everything. It’s how I can do pretty much what I want now they’ve passed on. Mam wanted me in the Ministry, but I were never much for that sort of work.”

“So you’re living off their legacy,” said Whistler, rather icily. “Very nice. But how does that factor into the goblins completely ignoring the fact that something was stolen from your vault?”

“Getting to that,” said Lewis, running another hand through his hair. “Right, so, with a vault that’s from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, you’ve got all kinds of stuff in there. All the relics and things that the family’s racked up over the years. Mammy had a gold necklace – handed down from old Hector Fawley’s wife. Not real gold – bright gold stones, like the sun. Never seen anything like them before. Don’t think I ever will again.”

“And this necklace was stolen?” said Teddy.

“Aye,” said Lewis. “Not a Knut taken, mind – but I don’t reckon I’ll ever see Mammy’s necklace again. Goblin-made, it was. Forged from the finest metals. Of course the goblins weren’t going to report nawt. _I_ only know about it ‘cos of my mirror. And Mammy’s necklace is always the first thing I check.”

“Goblin-made?” Whistler’s quill was scribbling very fast on a piece of parchment floating just to the side of where she sat. “And, a goblin could be the culprit? One might kill another goblin to make it look like a wizard did it, I mean, and run off with the necklace?”

Lewis’ face darkened. “I don’t think it,” he said. “I know it.”

“It seems a bit of a stretch,” said Teddy. “I mean, goblins are extremely protective of each other, aren’t they? That’s why they’re so possessive of their artefacts. They think anything goblin-made is rightfully a goblin’s. It’s hard to imagine one goblin killing another just to get their hands on a necklace.”

“I don’t know, Ted,” said Whistler. “It could be part of some larger plan – maybe they’re trying to frame a wizard for the crime, trying to get people to pay attention to their cause. Or maybe it was a rogue goblin. We know there are decent goblins out there – there have got to be horrible ones as well. Just like people.”

Lewis looked positively incensed at this idea.

“They’re bastards,” he said. “Lying to me, stealing my paid-for property,trapping old Ludo Bagman into indentured servitude...did yous hear about that one? I’ll tell yous what, I even have a clue about who it might be. There’s a goblin that used to work at Gringotts by the name of Borgrew. I got him sacked some years ago. We had a bit of a brawl in the Hare and Hounds, and – well, the Ministry don’t like it when a Gringotts goblin blacks the eye of a Fawley. I reckon he’s wanted to get me back ever since.”

“Borgrew,” repeated Teddy. “What were you fighting about?”

“Don’t really remember,” said Lewis. “I were right gattered, weren’t I? All I know is, he provoked me. Said he wanted to try out my wand, said he had an idea for a drink-refilling spell. He were drunk too, but I mean, how pissed d’you have to be? To give a goblin a _wand_? He’d have run off with it before I known it.”

Teddy and Whistler glanced at each other uneasily. Signing Graekaris’ contract had been one thing… but marching into a goblin’s home and telling him he’d been accused of murder, theft, and attempting to violate the Code of Wand Use was a reckless idea for any wizard, whether they were an Auror or not. They would need to tread carefully.

“Thank you for talking to us, Mr. Lewis,” said Teddy, standing up to shake his hand again and wincing as the pungent smell of unwashed armpits reached his nostrils. “If you think of anything else that might be useful, anything at all, feel free to owl us anytime.” 

Lewis nodded and, pulling a quill and a piece of parchment, quickly wrote down his name along with his lawyer’s, holding his left hand up high to make sure he did not smear the ink or dip his robe into it. He handed it to Teddy before showing them out of his house, closing the door hard behind them. Teddy took a deep breath of fresh air and tried to cleanse his nostrils. Sometimes he wished his senses were slightly less enhanced. 

He glanced over at Whistler, holding out his hand. “You owe me ten Galleons.” 

She scowled at him, but was already digging through her pockets to hand over his winnings.

Morris was gone by the time Teddy and Whistler returned to the Ministry, so they repeated their story to Peter, who was down in the autopsy area. The goblin’s body was resting on a tabletop and was covered in a white sheet. Peter was fiddling nervously with the mysterious box Teddy had noticed that morning and kept glancing over at a cauldron in the corner, which bubbled quietly.

“I’m waiting for the potion to finish separating a sample of blood from off the goblin’s clothes,” he said. “It’s got to be ready soon; it’s been hours. Meanwhile, I’ve tried every bloody spell I can think of to open this ridiculous box, and it just won’t budge. Why would somebody send me the damn thing if I can’t even get it open? Short of trying to Imperius it open, I can’t think what else – hang on. Do you think that would work?”

He looked hopefully at Teddy and Whistler, although his eyes strayed back to his cauldron after a few seconds.

“No,” said Whistler, sitting on one of the tables. “I don’t. Besides, you wouldn’t want to take its free will away. What else does it have?”

Peter glared at her. “It’s a box.”

“Who sent it to you?” said Teddy, rolling his eyes.

“No idea,” said Peter. “A screech owl arrived with it this morning. Odd thing, that, since owls aren’t technically allowed in here. Just dumped it on my desk and flew off again.”

He pointed his wand at it and focused on the lid. _“Finite Incantatem! Alohomora!”_

Nothing happened, except that the box rolled over on its side slightly. It seemed to be mocking him.

“See?” Whistler laughed. “Free will.”

“You know the table you’re sitting on had a dead skrewt on it this morning, right?” said Peter, and Whistler jumped off the table looking disgusted. But before anyone could respond, Peter’s cauldron stopped bubbling and the liquid quickly evaporated, leaving two distinctive green globs on the bottom. Peter set the box aside and, using a spoon, scooped the two globs into separate test tubes. He looked up at them anxiously.

“I need to get this to forensics,” he said, standing up quickly, and slipped the tube inside his robe. He was nearly out the door by the time Teddy called out to him and asked what was going on. Peter pushed the button to open the lift, and stepped inside, poking his head back out. 

“The body. I knew something was off.”

“Yeah?” Whistler asked.

“There was too much blood – way too much blood. The test I was running just confirmed it for me.”

The doors to the lift began to close.

“Confirmed what?” Teddy asked.

“There were two goblins involved in this!” Peter shouted as the lift took him downwards to the forensics lab. “The attacker’s blood must have wound up on the victim.” 

Teddy hadn’t realized quite how exhausted he would feel after his first day at the Ministry, but he also hadn’t anticipated such a gruesome murder. His head was buzzing with theories and possibilities as he wound his way out of the Ministry, said goodbye to Whistler, and traveled by fire back to his apartment to dress for dinner. 

Harry had invited him over to eat with the family, as it was only a few days before James and Albus left for Hogwarts, and to go over his impressions of the Auror Department after the children went to bed. Teddy was looking forward to it, but knowing James Potter the way he did, he took a long draught of Wideye Potion he’d set aside before he left. He wanted all his wits about him.

He emerged from the Potters’ fireplace to find Ginny arguing loudly with Lily about her newfound need to have a Niffler as a pet. This was actually Teddy’s fault, as he’d told her recently about the time that he had snuck one home after his third year at Hogwarts, and the way it had kidnapped all of the silverware and protected it fiercely in the linen cupboard – they’d had to eat with their hands for days. But he definitely wasn’t going to tell Ginny about that.

“There’s _no such thing_ as a well-trained Niffler, Lily!” snapped Ginny’s voice. “They’re not like Crups, they’re completely incapable of learning any sort of training!”

“But I’m good with animals!” said Lily. “Dad said I was! I’m the only one that unicorn would come near, that time when we went to visit Uncle Hagrid! I’d be strict with it, I’d keep it away from shiny things, I swear I wouldn’t let it out of my room –”

“Hi,” said Teddy, grinning broadly.

“Teddy!” Lily ran at him and dragged him into the kitchen, where her mother was prodding a steaming pot with her wand. Teddy swept her up into an ashy hug. “How was your first day?” she asked. “Did you get to kill any Dark wizards?”

“Not yet,” said Teddy. “But we’ll see how things go. Something smells amazing, Ginny.”

“You’d better tell Mum, then, as she’s the one who cooked it. I’m just reheating some leftovers,” said Ginny. “It’s French onion soup, I think. Al hates onions, but he’ll have to cope.” There was a sudden whooshing sound from the direction of the living room. Was that the fire place? 

“Harry’s not home yet,” said Ginny, “that must be him –”

“I’ll go look,” said Teddy, settling a disappointed Lily back onto the carpet. “I’ve hardly seen him today.”

He retraced his steps back to the fireplace and prepared himself for the onslaught of questions and congratulations he knew his godfather would have for him. However, while Harry Potter was standing in the fire grate, he did not have the excited and curious expression Teddy was expecting. Instead, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his mouth was drawn tight. Teddy examined him for a second, then understood: something must have happened at the Auror office just after he left that had caused Harry to look like this. Something terrible.

Harry leaned towards Teddy so that nobody would overhear. “I’ll give you the details after dinner,” he said, “but you’ve got one hell of a day ahead of you tomorrow. You know that box Dorneget was trying to open?”

Teddy nodded.

“I opened it.”

Harry wiped his feet on the floor mat and brushed some ash off his shoulders. He shook his head, pasted a cheery expression on his face, and then entered the kitchen, holding his arms out for a hug from Lily. If Teddy had not met him at the fireplace, the significant glance Harry gave Ginny over Lily’s head would be the only indication that all was not as it should be.


	4. The Cymophane Chain

The sound of the ocean slowly woke Teddy from his deep sleep. Refusing to open his eyes and thoroughly enjoying the warmth of the blankets, he took a deep breath of the salty air before stretching and finally opening his eyes. He blinked sleepily and smiled staring at the vision in front of him. She was still sleeping soundly. Victoire’s freckled face was completely relaxed, her silvery-blonde hair encasing her face and framing her shoulders and waist. He brushed a few stray hairs away from her cheeks. 

Without even needing to contort his face, Teddy morphed his hair to match the same color as his girlfriend’s before tickling her nose with a soft puff of air. She sleepily swept her hand over her face three times before finally opening her midnight blue eyes. She glared at him – though still smiling – and tried to turn over onto her other side. Teddy reached out and pulled her into a deep kiss before she could keep pretending to be upset. Victoire pouted when he pulled away.

“Good morning,” he said. 

Victoire stretched and yawned, continuing to stare at him sleepily and interlacing her fingers with his. She laughed as he morphed his mouth and face into various animal features. Two years ago, Teddy couldn’t have imagined he would have the chance to see her smiling face in the morning. Instead, he had been tortured all through his fifth year of Hogwarts trying to understand what it meant to fancy his best friend. 

It had not helped that Bill and Fleur had discovered the change in their relationship the same time as the rest of the Wizarding World. Teddy remembered very little of the Quiddich World Cup. He was far more focused the fact that every red-headed person in the box was staring daggers into the back of his head. It was a small miracle that James and Fred were too interested in the game to read the gossip Rita Skeeter wrote.

Victoire was just about to kiss him yet again when someone knocked on her bedroom door loudly.

“Vic, it’s time to get up,” called Bill. “We’re going to Diagon Alley to get everyone’s Hogwarts things.” 

Both Victoire and Teddy stayed frozen in the bed, staring desperately at one another, trying not to laugh and give themselves away. Victoire shouted back to her father that she would be down in five minutes. They stayed silent until they could no longer hear Bill’s footsteps. Then Teddy only relaxed slightly, sure that Bill would come bursting through her door with his wand pointing between Teddy’s eyes. He had Apparated on the beach outside Victoire’s window late after his discussion with Harry, and muffled his rather clumsy climbing by magic. This technique had served them well through most of the summer. They hadn’t been caught – yet. 

Teddy nearly fell out of her bed when the clock on her dresser chimed 7:30. He stared at the clock, certain that he had heard the chimes before throwing the blankets off himself, and attempting to find the various articles of clothing that seemed to have migrated throughout the room during the night. After nearly hitting his head on the iron bed frame while trying to put on a sock, Victoire lost all control and burst out laughing. 

“Shhh, someone will hear you!” he whispered, although this only made her laugh harder. 

Teddy finished pulling on his shirt and jacket, bent down quickly, and gave Victoire a light kiss on the lips before hopping over the bed and opening the window. He glanced back at her as she stumbled out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans. She smiled at him and then shooed him along. Teddy climbed over the windowsill and jumped off, using a Cushioning Charm to soften his landing. He looked up to see Victoire leaning out the window.

“Have a good day, love,” she said, and blew him a kiss. Teddy waved her goodbye before sprinting down the beach. He felt winded by the brief exercise, realizing that he’d not yet had anything to eat. He stopped about a hundred feet away, hoping that none of the Shell Cottage residents would hear the _CRACK_ of his Apparition. 

Teddy only briefly stopped by his flat in London to take a quick shower and change his clothes. This escapade to Shell Cottage had not been planned. After dinner at the Potters, he had meant to sleep at home, but then his barn owl, Moony, had shown up with a letter from Vic. With her leaving for Hogwarts in less than a week… well, Teddy was not about to refuse her request for company. He quickly dried his hair and Flooed to the Ministry.

The Atrium was not as full as it had been the day before. It was nearly eight, and it seemed that Teddy had missed the morning rush hour.

“Morning, Ted!” said someone behind him. Teddy looked back and saw Whistler striding up behind him, waving to the Minister as she jogged to catch up to him. The doors to the lift opened and both Teddy and Whistler stepped inside. Teddy pressed the second floor button and waited for the lurch of the elevator as it began to move backwards. 

“So how’s Victoire?” 

Teddy felt his cheeks flush as he looked determinedly away from Whistler.

“What makes you think I saw her last night?”

The lift doors opened and they stepped out into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. As Whistler handed Gladys her wand for inspection, she pointed to Teddy’s hair.

“It’s blond,” she said, smirking, before stepping though the waterfall. Teddy underwent the same process before also stepping through the waterfall and allowing his hair to stay its natural color for a rare moment. As they approached their cubicles, Teddy noticed that Harry, Morris, and Peter were all staring down at the box on Peter’s desk. 

Teddy hadn’t known what to say when Harry had told him what he and Peter had found in the box the previous evening. It was so far from anything he had expected that he had only stared at his godfather for a good long minute. This reaction was to serve him well today, however, because Harry had warned him he could not let anyone know that he had told him already. Teddy was only too happy to comply. Nobody would have any reason to suspect a special relationship between Teddy and the Head of the Auror Office.

“Morning,” Teddy said, and Harry, Morris, and Peter looked up to see him and Whistler enter. 

Like Whistler, Harry raised an eyebrow at Teddy’s appearance. Teddy quickly glanced at his reflection in a nearby window. It was once again a very familiar shade of silver-blond. Teddy sighed, focused on turning his hair Potter black, and then asked earnestly, “So what was in the box?” 

Morris stepped aside, allowing for Whistler and Teddy to join the circle. “See for yourself,” he said. 

Teddy steeled himself, for he knew that seeing the box was going to be much worse than Harry’s description. Then he peered over the edge. Inside were ten very long, twig-thin fingers, the erstwhile property of a Gringotts goblin. In sharp contrast to the bloodstained body at the bank, the fingers had been left pristine and undamaged, though Teddy’s heightened sense of smell caught a whiff of decay and deterioration. He gritted his teeth, suddenly very glad that he had skipped breakfast that morning.

The others were still gathered around Morris’ desk, discussing why someone might want to send them a set of fingers from a body before the body had even been discovered. Teddy, however, continued staring at the box. 

“Notice it yet?” 

He looked up at the place where Harry was leaning nonchalantly against the desk. Teddy squinted harder at the fingers. The only time he thought any wizard paid attention to goblins’ hands was when they ran their nails down a Gringotts vault… Teddy’s eyes widened and he looked back at Harry. 

“His fingernails,” he said. “Why would someone murder a goblin, cut off its fingers, snap off the nails, and mail them to the Auror Office?” 

Harry only shook his head. Teddy turned to Morris. 

“Do you think they meant for us to open the box before or after we found the body?” he asked.

Peter raised his eyebrows. “Why would it matter?” 

“Whoever did this wanted us to be involved,” said Teddy, frowning. “But before yesterday, we didn’t even know who would be sitting at that desk. It was just bad luck for you.” 

Morris looked at Teddy, his arms crossed. “Got a theory, Lupin?” 

Teddy could only shake his head. So Morris continued.

“Right then, Dorneget. I want to know everything about that second blood sample. Shacklebolt, I want you looking into that necklace Lewis was talking about. Lupin, you’re coming back to Gringotts with me. Let’s see what we can learn from the other goblins.” 

Everyone nodded. Whistler went back to her desk and began to scribble interdepartmental memos, while Peter gingerly picked up the box and headed for the forensics department. Morris grabbed his cloak, and with only a wave to Harry, he hurried Teddy back to Gringotts. 

This time, they Apparated directly to the outdoor steps of the bank. Teddy followed Morris up the bank steps and paused while two wizards probed them for any concealment. 

“Turn your hair a different color,” Morris said quietly. Teddy stared at him for a second before realizing that his hair was still the same jet black as his godfather’s. Teddy quickly turned it his favorite sky blue before following Morris up the steps.

“I can wait outside if it will make things easier,” he said, noticing that many of the goblins were already staring at him with their beady eyes. 

Morris didn’t even pause, looking straight ahead as he spoke. “These goblins ought to get over their wounded pride and realize they would be dead if it weren’t for Potter,” he said. “Besides, you put them on edge. It’s easier to spot a guilty goblin when they aren’t acting smug.” 

They strode past the goblins guarding the entrance to the back rooms, Morris ignoring the rather rude gesture one of them made as they walked. Teddy supposed that they didn’t like outsiders in the bank’s private areas, even with permission. Then Morris knocked on Graekaris’ open door. 

The goblin continued staring down at a paper on his desk. Teddy was about to knock again, but Morris stopped him, waiting patiently. They stood in the doorway for two minutes before Graekaris finally looked up and waved them inside. Neither Morris nor Graekaris gave any sort of greeting. Instead, Morris opened the conversation with a question that would surely anger any Gringotts goblin, let alone Graekaris, who had already proven himself irascible.

“So,” he said. “Why did your people lie to us? Why did you tell us that nothing was taken from the vault?” 

Graekaris stared at Morris, each of his long fingers resting against one another. “We are not bound by your laws, Wizard,” he said. “We involved the Aurors because the vault owner requested it. We chose not to disclose his private information. We serve our clients – not your Ministry.” 

Morris nodded, as if this was the answer he had been expecting. “Did he specifically ask you not to divulge the information, or did you simply decided not to ask him for permission?” 

Graekaris laughed and smirked at Morris, as if this was a sport rather than an interview. “You finally ask the right question, Morris,” he said, and that was the only answer they received. To Teddy’s surprise, however, it seemed enough for Morris. 

“What can you tell me about a goblin by the name Borgrew?” said Morris.

At this, Graekaris’ face darkened. He stopped smiling and sat very still. 

“He is no longer my responsibility,” he said. “He has not worked here for two years.” 

Quite suddenly, Graekaris returned to the papers on his desk, his eyes shifted deliberately away from the two Aurors. Morris seemed to recognize the dismissal and stood.

“Do you mind if we interview a few of your employees?” he asked. 

Graekaris shook his head without looking up and waved Morris out of the room. The door shut magically behind them. To Teddy’s surprise, Bill was standing in the hallway with some files in his hands.

“Hey, Teddy,” Bill said, and Teddy forced himself to look him in the eye. “Next time, why don’t you just stay for breakfast, all right?"

“I wasn’t –” Teddy started, but Bill cut him off. 

“Ignoring the fact that your hair just turned bubble-gum pink, don’t forget that my senses are better than yours,” said Bill. He turned to Morris and handed the files over. “Here’s everything I could find on Borgrew. It’s not much – the goblins are quite capable of protecting their own, even when they get sacked from the bank.” 

Morris took the files and began flipping through them. Teddy focused on them intently, straining his neck to see over Morris’ shoulder. He was determined not to look at Bill. 

From what he could see, most of the files were redacted. The only legible script was Borgrew’s name and a few other unhelpful words. The goblins hadn’t even come up with a forwarding address. 

“Is there anything you can tell us, Mr. Weasley?” asked Morris, and Teddy could tell that Bill had understood the deeper frustration behind the question. 

“Honestly, I doubt Borgrew did this,” said Bill. “He’s been gone for years because a patron forced Gringotts hands. If Borgrew wanted revenge, he wouldn’t have killed another goblin.”

Morris nodded and then asked, “Do you have a theory as to why someone would want goblin fingernails?” 

To Teddy’s surprise, Bill nodded grimly. “Goblin nails have magical properties,” he said. “That’s why the vaults are so safe at Gringotts. You always need a goblin to get through. It has to do with their smithing and forging techniques. If someone managed to get hold of a set of goblin fingernails, they would be able to get into any vault in Gringotts.” 

“But why would you take them off the hands?” asked Teddy. “That’s pretty impractical, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know,” said Bill, his forehead scrunching. “All I can think is that whoever killed Gilmrick wanted to give you a fright. That, and they want you to know they’ve got the nails. It’s as if they’re baiting you.”

“Pity,” said Morris, eyeing Bill. “They’re going to have to learn the hard way that the Ministry can’t be baited.”

He led Teddy back to the fire, flicking through the files as he walked. Then they Flooed away.

*

“The fingers are definitely Gilmrick’s,” said Peter. Teddy and the others were back in the office, gathered around Peter’s cubicle while he told them of that morning’s findings. 

“Everything matches,” he continued.” And it’s clear from the detection spells we did that the DNA on the fingers is the same as the blood that was found with the body. Unfortunately, we’re no closer to figuring out whose DNA it is. However…”

“You found something?” said Teddy eagerly.

“The potion I prepared yesterday evening yielded its results just after you left,” said Peter. “One thing is clear. The foreign blood that we found on the body belonged to another goblin. It seems that this Borgrew may be the real culprit after all.”

Teddy looked at Morris, who was examining his own fingernails.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” he said, in what Teddy interpreted as a rather bored voice. “If there’s anything I’ve learned during my career, it’s that you’ll get skewered if you assume things are always what they seem. Look at what happened to Dawlish. We wouldn’t want that to be any of you.”

There was a short silence. No Auror liked to think about John Dawlish if they could help it.

“Anyway, I agree that the next step is to track Borgrew the goblin down,” said Morris. “However, I’d like to hear from Shacklebolt first. What did you discover about the necklace?”

“More or less what you’d expect,” said Whistler, looking troubled. “Everything Lewis said about it checks out. It can be traced to the Fawley family since the time of the Hogwarts founders – it’s mentioned in all sorts of old books, usually called ‘the Cymophane Chain’ by members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Anyway, nobody in the family’s actually touched it for generations. It’s been in that Gringotts vault for at least a hundred years.”

“And yet someone removed it,” muttered Morris. “Motives? What do you lot think?”

“Well, it makes sense that a goblin would take it,” Teddy offered. “Maybe one of their ancestors made it, and they wanted it back. And if Gilmrick was defending the vault, maybe the goblin didn’t care who got caught in the crossfire.”

“Still doesn’t account for all the blood, though,” said Whistler. “Unless – maybe there was a struggle?”

“It’d have to be a pretty big struggle for blood to have ended up on that mirror,” said Teddy. “I dunno. Maybe it wasn’t a goblin at all – maybe it was someone who had killed goblins before. They’d have had extra goblin blood on them, and they’d have been able to use it to frame whoever’s DNA is on everything.”

“Like some kind of goblin serial killer?” said Whistler, looking skeptical. “Wouldn’t we have heard about other goblin murders?”

“Not necessarily,” said Morris. “The only reason the Auror department got called in for this one was because the goblins felt it was too big to ignore. They don’t generally like us meddling with their affairs.”

“There’s a motive I think you’re forgetting,” said Peter, speaking up after several minutes lost in thought. “You guys recall how You-Know-Who found his – his Horcruxes, don’t you? How he got hold of the cup, and the locket, and all that?”

The story of Voldemort and his Horcruxes was generally considered to be classified information, but upon his appointment to Head of the Auror Office, Harry had insisted that it be told to all of his new recruits. Aurors needed to know the worst of what Wizard-kind had done in order to stop such things from ever happening again.

“You can call him Voldemort now, he’s quite dead,” said Whistler. Peter shuddered and ignored her.

“He wanted them because of what they represented to the Pureblood Wizarding community,” said Peter. “What if there’s a copycat collector out there? Someone who wants to make Horcruxes of his own? Someone who heard about the Cymophane Chain and would go to any lengths to get it?”

There was another silence, this one far more pointed than the last.

“Well,” said Morris finally. “It sounds like we have quite enough to be going on with, don’t we?”

Teddy left for home with the image of his boss’ grim smile imprinted firmly in his mind’s eye.


	5. Sleight of Hand

There was a subdued atmosphere at the Auror office the next day. Morris was ready and waiting by the cubicles the instant Teddy arrived, and gathered the team together in front of Peter’s cubicle.

“I did a lot of thinking last night,” he said, “and I came to the conclusion that today is going to be the day we catch this fellow.”

Teddy, Whistler, and Peter stared.

“We’ve got nothing to go on,” said Whistler. “We don’t even know if it was a goblin or a human, let alone _which_ goblin or human.”

“You’re Aurors,” Morris snapped. “You understand as well as I do that killings as dramatic as this one are rarely isolated events. I’ve had goblins on my back since the last time we left the bank – don’t like wizards in their private space, for some reason – and another killing, be it goblin or human, is going to be nasty for everybody. No, the four of us are working harder today than we’ve ever worked before. Whistler, Lupin – I want you investigating Dorneget’s idea. Look into the records of anyone associated with the Death Eaters who isn’t currently in Azkaban. Dorneget–-”

But he was stopped short by Harry, who had appeared beside the cubicle so suddenly that it was as if he had Apparated. He had a strange expression on his face. Morris seemed to notice this even faster than Teddy did, because he whipped around and used his wand to snatch a rather bloody-looking piece of paper Teddy hadn’t even realized his godfather was levitating. Being careful not to touch it, he read it in a matter of seconds, then stared at Harry.

“They’re very angry,” said Harry in a low voice. “Furious, really. I sent Tandel off to talk to them, but I think their pride’s been hurt, and there’s no telling how long it’ll for them to recover. They were so convinced it was a wizard, you see… and goblins don’t forgive easily…”

Morris turned to look at the rest of them. “Change of plan,” he said brusquely. “We’re going to Hogsmeade.”

*

Borgrew had been found, but not at all in the way that anyone had expected.

The new innkeeper at the Hog’s Head, who had purchased the pub after old Aberforth Dumbledore had come down with an odd case of clinical hircanthropy in his old age, was more than used to serving goblin patrons: they favored the Hog’s Head vastly over the Three Broomsticks, which was always teeming with overeager students. One of Parminia Diggle’s most popular customers was an old, rather angry-looking goblin with a particular weakness for mulled mead. She had developed an awareness of him that she didn’t have of his fellows, because this goblin was always, without exception, alone. He had a favorite back corner of the pub that he liked to sit in, poring over the latest editions of a paper written in Gobbledygook. When other goblins came in, they ignored him so pointedly that Parminia couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

It was that same goblin that Parminia had found dead in a pool of his own blood that morning, slumped against the back stoop of the pub, a note grasped in his limp wrist and a necklace hung around his frail collarbone.

The note, written in shaky Gobbledygook, said:

_It was for want of the Cymophane Chain that I murdered the goblin Gilmrick in cold blood on the 28th August. He stood in my way as I snuck along the Gringotts passages I once commanded, and he died for it. The return of the Chain is a triumph for our species, but not for me. I have paid with my very soul. In short, I end my life today, in hopes that no goblin will ever deem it necessary to take the life of another again._

_In guilt and sorrow,_

_Borgrew._

Parminia had noted that the goblin’s wrists appeared to have been slit. This news was then relayed back to Gringotts and to Harry, who carefully levitated the note out of Borgrew’s grip and went straight to Morris.

Now all four members of Morris’ team were gathered in a semicircle across from the body, staring at the dazzling gold necklace that was still hanging from Borgrew’s neck. Peter was flicking his wand to produce measuring tapes out of thin air, and Whistler had squatted down to better examine the blood spatter. Teddy simply stood there, putting the pieces together inside his head.

“So I suppose that’s it,” said Teddy, frowning. “Case closed. Borgrew wanted the Chain, Gilmrick got in his way, and that was that. They fought, and Borgrew’s blood ended up in the vault. And he increased the spatter to throw us off the trail.”

“I’ve long said it’s impossible for witches and wizards to fully understand the way goblins think about their treasure,” said Peter sadly. “But this is proof that sometimes their humanity does win out, doesn’t it? To think that Borgrew committed such an egregious crime, and then he realized what he’d done…”

“Their humanity doesn’t win out,” said Whistler, sounding nettled, “because goblins aren’t human. You’re talking as if they’re only worth respecting if they behave like us.”

“I didn’t mean that,” said Peter. “I only meant that it’s a shame, isn’t it, that their drive to reclaim their treasure runs so deep.”

Something flickered at the back of Teddy’s mind. He squinted at the Cymophane Chain, at the way that it glinted in the late morning sunlight. 

“It’s strange, isn’t it,” he said. “That Borgrew worked at Gringotts for years and years before being sacked, and he’s only stolen something now?”

Peter glanced at him, raised an eyebrow, then slapped his head and swore. “Merlin! I might as well be a flobberworm.” 

He bent down and looked closer at the goblin's body. Both Teddy and Whistler watched silently, waiting to see what Peter had noticed that everyone else missed. He lifted the goblin’s bleeding wrists towards them. 

“Look! Isn’t it obvious?” he said. Whistler and Teddy shook their heads as Morris came back into the room. “The cuts! They’ve been made from the inside out.” 

Peter was looking back and forth at all of them, apparently waiting for someone to have the _aha_ moment that he'd had. When no one did, Peter huffed and continued to explain.

“If you were going to slice your wrists with a knife, how would you do it? Go on -- just mime it and see.” 

Wondering if Peter had gone slightly mad, Teddy held an imaginary knife in his right hand and pretended to cut his left wrist. In a split second he understood, and gasped. Both Morris and Whistler looked at him, clearly worried for both his and Peter’s sanity. Peter explained before Teddy had a chance.

“People who kill themselves like this,” he said, “tend to cut their wrists from the outside in. I don’t care if you're a goblin with a knife or a wizard with a wand; it's just a more natural cut.” 

Teddy took Borgrew’s note from Morris’ folder and examined it closely. He looked closely at the letters. While he couldn’t understand what the note said, he did notice that all of the letters were strangely slanted.

“Which hand did Borgrew write with?” Teddy asked, looking over at Morris. His boss flipped quickly through the files in his hands. It was something that Harry had talked about when he had lectured in their training. Even Muggle tactics of investigation were always worth looking into. 

“He was right-handed,” said Morris. “Apparently a dragon from the lower vaults burnt his left hand rather badly nearly twenty years ago now. It was left almost useless. Why?” 

Teddy handed the letter over to Morris. “The writing on this was done by someone who was left-handed. It’s the only way to explain that strange slant.”

Morris looked down at the note, and Teddy continued. “Sir, I don't think this was a suicide. With the note and the strange angles of the cuts, it just doesn't make sense.”

“Not to mention the fact that there’s no knife by the body,” Whistler said. “If he had killed himself, shouldn't we have found something sharp?”

There was a moment of silence as they all were tried to figure out what their next steps would be. Teddy thought back to the bank and tried to remember whether anyone there had been left-handed. The problem was that it was not something one he would generally have noticed unless he was looking for it. He thought harder, and, remembering something from when he and Whistler had interviewed Lewis, Teddy dug through his pockets until his fingers brushed against the small piece of parchment with Lewis’ lawyer's name on it. The backwards slant was exactly the same.

“Lewis,” he said staring at Whistler. “Lewis is left handed.”


	6. The Missing Motive

Teddy and Whistler Apparated to the hill outside Doomgate in silence. Teddy knew that they were both wondering the same thing: would Lewis answer their questions when they asked them? 

Even when they had not suspected him, Lewis had been less than forthcoming. Teddy glanced down at Whistler’s hand; she was fiddling with the tip of her wand. He had not noticed her removing it from the holster strapped to her leg. She was quiet, and her face was serious. Teddy recalled how she had stuck her nose up at Lewis earlier. It was uncharacteristically sour for her. That one action alone had made her seem more Slytherin than she often appeared.

Teddy's hand brushed against the handle of his wand. He knew that as an Auror, there would eventually come a time when his dueling skills would be tested. In training he’d been quite successful. They’d used Boggarts, stone figures, and trained Aurors whom they knew they couldn’t badly hurt. Teddy had hundreds of spells in his arsenal, and there were several that he could have performed in his sleep. There was, however, a reason he was following in his godfather’s footsteps and joining the detectives rather than the dueling specialists. 

Whistler, on the other hand, had been the best in their year. While she hadn’t won her duel in their final exams, she _had_ matched a Level Five-ranked Auror spell for spell. Harry had always stressed the way regular spells could be turned to Dark magic if used for the wrong reasons, and how thin that line could sometimes seem. Teddy was not always sure Whistler remembered that.

Lewis’ home looked the same as ever -- small and white and flat-roofed, at home among the Muggle houses surrounding it. Teddy glanced at Whistler uneasily.

“Remember, we don’t _know_ he did it.” muttered Teddy.

“No," said Whistler."We just have overwhelming evidence that he was involved.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be polite at first, and if he resists...” 

“Then we’ll stop being polite,” Teddy said, and he saw Whistler smile coldly.

“Right. On the count of three?”

Teddy nodded. 

They counted, and then they knocked. Nobody answered.

“ _Homenum revelio ___,” whispered Whistler. A thin grey cloud instantly issued from her wand and hovered by the doorknob, as if inviting them inside. “He’s there,” she said. “Come on.”

Teddy unlocked the door non-verbally with his wand. The door creaked open. Despite the warm sun and the birds chirping outside, Teddy felt an eerie chill drift over him. He and Whistler crept into the darkened hallway, waiting for the moment when they would be discovered. 

“Mr. Lewis? It’s Lupin and Shacklebolt with the Aurors," said Teddy, as loudly as he dared. "We just want to ask you a few questions..." 

There was a moment of silence, and then a flash of light. Teddy dove into a side room whilst whipping his wand out. His spell streaked passed Whistler, who had merely flattened herself against the wall. She glanced at him only briefly before pointing her wand down the hallway. They scarcely had time to breathe before footsteps came pounding down the stairs, and a red-faced, furious Ezekiel Lewis was glaring back at them. 

“Don’t think I’m not going to go rage on yous, just because you’re Aurors! You think you can break into my house without consequence? You think that’s yer right, do yous?” 

“We’d just like to ask you a few questions,” said Whistler, her voice steely and her facial expression still cool. She seemed to be glaring at someone Teddy could not see, and he returned to his feet and joined her. “You didn’t answer the door. And so I’m afraid it is our right, under Statute --” 

“I don’t give a damn about yer damn statutes,” growled Lewis cutting her off. He was nothing like the relatively calm, if a bit dim, man that they had spoken with before. 

The only light they had was the sunbeam stretching in from the open door. The high contrast made it difficult for even Teddy to see. But he could smell Lewis. It did not seem that he had showered in days. Despite wanting to shove cotton up his nose, Teddy took another deep breath. Was that a hint of iron, emanating from Lewis? 

Something significant had changed since Teddy and Whistler had last been here, and Teddy knew what it was. There was blood on Lewis’ hands. 

At last Lewis stepped forward into the light. His eyes seemed to be popping out of his skull. 

“You realize you’ve been caught,” said Teddy. “You didn’t hide your tracks at all well. We saw you signing that paper with your left hand…” 

Lewis whipped out his wand before Teddy could finish. There was an odd, manic gleam in his eye. 

_“Sectumsempra!”_

Whistler raised her wand arm and deflected the curse as smoothly as if she were shrugging a shoulder. 

_“Incarcerous!”_ she shouted. 

But Lewis dodged that one. Teddy shook his head and raised his own wand, shooting out defensive spells—a succession of Shield Charms for Whistler—while she sent spell after spell at Lewis, not bothering to try and find cover. Whistler was getting angry. Teddy had seen her like this at Auror training a thousand times. However, it never seemed to dampen her abilities, and as she focused more, her spells began to pack more of a punch. 

Spells and curses flew out of her wand, bouncing off the walls and filling the dim corridor with light. A spell that would might hit Whistler in the chest deflected off Teddy’s Shield charm and slashed his arm open. 

_“Stupefy! Impedimenta! Tarantellegra! STUPEFY!”_ Whistler shouted, stepping further and further into the hallway. 

At long last, one of her spells worked. Lewis slumped to the floor, his wand clattering downwards as he collapsed against the staircase. Whistler frowned at him, a vague look of not-quite-satisfaction playing around her lips. 

“And _Incarcerous,”_ she said, binding him up and down with tight rope, “for good measure.” 

She stood directly over Lewis, her wand pointing between his eyes. Then she glanced back at Teddy, her eyes following the crimson blood that dripped from his arm to the tips of his fingers. Her features softened, and she conjured up clean bandages that wrapped themselves neatly around the cut. 

“Come on, Teddy,” she said, levitating Lewis’ body. “We’ve got to get him back to Morris. Then he can really get what’s coming to him.” 

Teddy allowed himself a grin. 

*

Teddy stared at Lewis through the two-way mirror. Morris had yet to arrive for the interrogation, but all in all, Teddy thought it had become a rather open-and-shut case. There was only so much evidence required when the suspect decided to duel rather than answer a few questions. 

Teddy nursed the wound on his arm. Several of Lewis’ spells had grazed him towards the end of the fight. The on-site Ministry Healers had done an excellent job, but there was only so much someone could do for a cursed wound. It would heal in time, and Teddy doubted that it would even leave a scar. 

The door to the viewing room opened, and Whistler came in, followed by Harry. 

“All right, Teddy?” 

Harry motioned toward his sling. Teddy nodded, but his attention was on the interrogation room. Morris had walked inside, sat down across from Lewis, and laid out some of the photographs. 

“Quite the scene you left us.” Morris pointed to a photograph of the original crime scene in the Gringotts vault. Lewis said nothing, but his eyes seemed drawn to the photo nonetheless. Morris pulled out a second image. This photo was of one of the goblin’s fingers. 

“Nice work, that,” said Lewis, smirking. Teddy watched him lean back in his chair, stretching his legs under the table until he hit Morris’s shins. Lewis casually flipped through the many different crime scene photos, not squirming or struggling with their gruesome nature one bit. 

Teddy didn’t understand why Morris was going so slowly. He was letting Lewis control the situation, rather than forcing it himself. Lewis tossed the photos back onto the table, allowing them to scatter, and a few of them slid onto the floor. 

“You don’t like goblins, do you, Mr. Lewis?” Morris asked. 

“Does anyone?” Lewis snapped. “The way they hoard their treasure, and stare at ours with their beady little eyes.” 

Morris stayed silent, merely raising his eyebrows at Lewis. The silence dragged on, with even Teddy beginning to grow uncomfortable. At first, Lewis seemed at ease, happy to sit in the silent staring contest between himself and Morris. As time went on, however, Teddy saw Lewis begin to fidget. First, he began to glance over to the mirror, squinting to see if someone was watching on the other side. Then his leg began to shake, and, apparently needing something to do, he picked up the photographs once again. Lewis flipped back through them, still glancing up at the mirror every few seconds. 

“Youse got nothing,” he said, his smirk returning as he moved his gaze back to Morris. Now Morris leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table. He was smiling lightly, but in a such a way that it made Teddy’s hair stand on end. 

“Oh?” 

“If you had, I’d be in Azkaban, not some tiny room. You’ve no proof.” 

Morris opened his file folder and held out a document for Lewis to see. “We have your alibi, which did not check out.” He laid the paper on the desk and held up another. “A log from Gringotts, showing that you visited your vault on the day in question.” Again he put the paper out on the table. “A suicide letter, supposedly written by Bogrod, in handwriting remarkably similar to your own. A knife of yours with traces of blood on it. And let’s not forget that you attacked two of my team.” 

Morris finished by setting a paper in front of Lewis, and providing a quill for him. “We have enough to put you away for a long time, Mr. Lewis. I don’t need your confession. I just need you to sign on the dotted line there, stating that you agree to this statement of guilt, and acknowledging that you’ve been read your rights." 

There was silence on the other side of the glass as Lewis stared at the statement in front of him. 

“We’ve got hardly any evidence,” Teddy said, looking over at Harry “Everything except his attack is circumstantial at best. That knife didn’t even have goblin blood on it.” 

Whistler was nodding in agreement, but to Teddy’s surprise, Harry was smiling. “Just because we know that doesn’t mean Lewis needs to.” 

Teddy was going to add something else, but suddenly Lewis spoke up. 

“You’ve got a bit of this wrong.” He pointed at the statement sheet with the quill. “I staged the suicide before I killed that big-eared goblin in the vault. Youse really so stupid you couldn’t even figure that?”

Teddy gaped, looking back and forth from Lewis to Harry. The man was so pompous that he had just confessed on record -- and was insulting their police work. 

“Yes, you did, Mr. Lewis,” said Morris. “We knew that, but no one else did.” He picked up all the photos and sheets of paper and began replacing them in his folder. 

“You don’t need to sign that paper anymore -- we’ve got your confession on record now. You just made the Wizengamot’s job a lot easier, thanks.” 

Morris tucked the folder under his arm, took the quill from Lewis, and left the interrogation room. There was a moment of silence before Morris entered the viewing room, a rare smile on the older man’s face. He handed the file over to Harry, took out his wand, and placed the tip at his temple. Slowly, he pulled the wand away, now accompanied by a silver wisp. Holding the memory on his wand like a fish on a hook, Harry conjured a vial in which to store it. Once the stopper had been placed, Morris handed that over to Harry as well. 

“Will that do?” 

Harry nodded. “I think this -- plus the attack and the circumstantial, of course -- should make this case very simple.” 

He gestured for the whole team to follow him out of the viewing room. Harry walked up the stairs back into his office, while Teddy, Morris, and Whistler joined Peter in the squad room. They waited there, idly chatting about the case until two Azkaban wizards arrived and took Lewis into custody. Teddy got one final look at the goblin-killer before he was led through the waterfall and disappeared from the Auror Office. 

*

Two days later, Teddy casually leaned through the portal to Platform 9 ¾, simultaneously turning his hair from its natural mouse-brown to Victoire’s favorite shade of blue. He was leading Louis, who was getting ready to start his second year at school. 

Teddy had purposefully changed his typical look just a bit in the photo that was plastered on today’s edition of The Daily Prophet. As it was, Teddy occasionally found himself in the tabloids; it was a rather less pleasurable part of being the godson of Harry Potter. At the very least, however, he could make it difficult for anyone to recognize him, as long as he was always photographed looking differently than he usually did. Per usual, Rita Skeeter had played up his relation to Harry and nearly forgotten to say that they had solved the case because she was so busy wondering if his relationship with the Head of the Auror department was a sign that Harry was preparing to take over the Ministry. 

This was record-breaking year for the Weasley-Potter family. It was Victoire’s final year and Al’s and Rose’s first, with Lucy, Roxanne, Dominique, Molly, James, Fred, and Louis somewhere in between. It would be the only time that Hogwarts had someone in the family represented in every single year. He was sure Rita would find a way to spin that into something sinister, but at the moment, he did not care. 

Teddy felt someone slip their hand into his and looked over to see Victoire nuzzling her head on his shoulder. 

“You’ll come and visit every Hogsmeade weekend, yeah?” she whispered in his ear, kissing him on the cheek. It felt like his whole body was being bathed in warm sunlight, and he could tell without needing to look in a mirror that his hair had changed to match hers. 

Teddy looked around cautiously, but no other Weasleys were in sight. Their relationship was not unknown to many of the adults, but as far as Teddy was aware, none of the kids knew, and he would rather keep it that way until Victoire was done with school. 

He led her by the hand towards the train, and helped her with the trunk. Teddy needed to go and see Rose and Albus off, but wanted a last few moments with Victoire before she left. It would inappropriate for an Auror to sneak into Hogwarts, after all. She leaned out over the window of the coach, smiling sweetly, her blonde hair framing her face. He leaned forward and kissed her deeply, trying not to be annoyed that she was disappearing for yet another year. At least it would be the last year that they would have to do long-distance. 

“Teddy! What are you doing?” 

The two of them lept apart, and Teddy glared at James. The eldest of the Potter children was gaping at them, pointing back and forth from his cousin to Teddy. 

“Well, I’ve come to see Victoire off, haven’t I?” said Teddy, as if he was merely mentioning something interesting about the weather. When Teddy met his eyes, however, James’ surprise quickly gave way to his trademark smirk. James bolted back into the mass of Hogwarts students, making him impossible for Teddy to catch. Teddy looked back at Victoire apologetically. 

“You ready to join the family, then?” she asked, kissing him on his nose. He shrugged, trying not to think about how her uncles were going to react to the news. He kissed her one last time, saying his goodbye before trying to find the Potter family in the crowd. 

It was two minutes to eleven, and Teddy assumed that Albus and everyone else would be on the train by now. Indeed, when he finally spotted Harry, he was closing the coach door and waving to Al. Albus leaned forward and Teddy gave him a quick hug as the train began to puff off into the distance. Lily attached herself to Teddy’s leg as Ginny gave him a soft hug, smirking just as her son had. 

“It looks like your secret is finally out,” she said, as they began to make their way back toward the Muggle world. Teddy held Lily’s hand as they stepped through the portal. 

“Well, it was bound to happen eventually,” said Teddy. “It’s not like we could hold off until I propose. The family would kill me!” 

Teddy realized a moment too late what he had said. Ginny beamed at him as she took Lily’s hand from Teddy’s, but before she could say anything, he Apparated back to the Ministry. 

If Ginny said anything to anyone, they were going to think that he wanted to ask her _now_. He knew that all of Victoire’s uncles would hunt him down if he even attempted that before she left school. Harry appeared out of nowhere moments later, grinning widely. 

Harry laughed as Teddy concentrated on keeping his hair from turning as red as his face. 


	7. The Mutilated Muggle

Halloween was two weeks away, and Teddy found himself sitting on his regular stool at the Leaky Cauldron. Next to him was Atlas Denbright, his fellow Auror and best friend, aside from Victoire. The two of them had spent the last hour discussing who was most likely to win the Quidditch championship this year. Teddy favored the Harpies, but even he had to admit that in the years following Ginny and Hestia Jones’ departures, the team lacked the force that it had before. He doubted that they would even make it into the playoffs.

“So,” Atlas said, tipping back his Firewhiskey. “Pete says you’ve had a pretty quiet September. Nothing new since that goblin business, then?”

Teddy shook his head and finished his beer. “A few small things, but we’re back on the search detail until something new pops up.”

The search detail was perhaps the least interesting part of being an Auror. Each Auror classification had a detail when there was a lull in their own work. Duelists like Whistler joined the Security Detail, often having to look after important Ministry officials and other figureheads. Peter and Atlas lent their forensics skills to other teams, or else worked on their own developmental projects. Teddy, who wanted to be a detective, was assigned to the search detail, helping higher-ranked Aurors who spent their days searching for Dark wizards on the run. No one knew what undercover Aurors did during their time off, but Teddy assumed they just took a holiday.

Morris had arrived that morning with his usual cup of tea and dropped a box of files onto Teddy’s desk. Each file was a record of a wizard on probation from Azkaban. Teddy had spent all week following up and making sure that the wizards were where they claimed to be.

“Well, at least you don’t have to be the testing dummy for Pete’s Mage Armor.” Atlas said, rubbing at a particularly nasty bruise on his arm. “It seems to be doing more damage than if I wasn’t wearing any protection.” 

Teddy had heard Peter talk about the Mage Armor before. His goal was to somehow get a Shield Charm to stay on an article of clothing. That way, so long as an Auror was wearing a protected shirt, they would be safe from most minor curses and jinxes. Teddy felt something heat up in his pocket, pulled out his purple compact, and opened it. Peter’s face appeared on the small circular mirror.

“We’ve got a new one,” he said. Teddy had already thrown three Knuts on the bar and was putting on his cloak. “In Manchester. It’s Ravi Trocar’s house, if you can believe it. Not her, mind you, but Morris wants you here quick.”

Teddy waved to Hannah, the owner, and said goodbye to Atlas before Apparating on the spot. He nearly toppled over as he landed in Manchester, but not because of a bad landing or lack of concentration on his part. Having spent most of the evening in the Leaky Caldron, he had not noticed that the clouds that had hung around all week had finally released their moisture on London. It turned out that Teddy had Apparated directly on top of a flooded storm drain. 

Setting an Impervius Charm on his shoes, Teddy walked towards the house of Ravi Trocar. While not an Auror, she often contracted with them as a registered Curse Breaker. Teddy had only met her once, years ago while he was still at school, when she’d ended up staying for dinner at the Potters’ house.

At the time, Teddy had not figured out why she was not eating Ginny’s delicious food, but later that year, when Professor Diggle taught them about vampires in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Teddy had understood. He had also realized that werewolves and vampires weren’t really as different as he had always supposed. 

Teddy turned the corner and found himself on the street of Ravi’s house. He stopped walking and stared. Four houses down the street was a car with flashing red and blue lights. Teddy could see a small crowd of people standing around Ravi’s house, which apparently had been roped off by the Muggle law enforcement. There was a _CRACK_ behind him, causing Teddy to whirl around, pointing his wand at a small woman with brown hair braided into pigtails, who was looking down at a folder.

“You’re Edward Lupin, yeah?” she said in an American accent, not looking up. It took a moment for Teddy to register what she had said before answering.

“Er, yes. But everyone calls me Teddy.” 

She glanced up at him and nodded before looking back down at the file. “Merlin, you don’t look anything like your photo.” She held a picture up next to him, her eyes darting back and forth from it and his face before flipping it around for him to see. It was indeed a picture of him, though with longer, pink hair tied back in a ponytail. It had been taken on Lily’s most recent birthday, and Teddy could not fathom how this witch had gotten it.

“Right.” She slipped the photo back in the file and closed it. “I need you to change your hair. Make it a more natural color.”

Teddy stared at her, his eyebrows raised. “Who are you, exactly?”

She hit herself on the forehead before holding out her hand. “Sorry! I’m Kaylee Stout. Auror Liaison with No-Mag-- sorry, Muggle Law Enforcement. There’s an anti-Apparition jinx on the house, so everyone’s having to walk through that Muggle crowd to get to the scene.”

Teddy nodded and twisted his face, concentrating on a dark brown color for his hair. Judging by Kaylee’s nod of approval, he had succeeded. Following her suggestion, he also added a bit of gray, and even obliged her with a few lines on his face. 

Kaylee was no longer paying attention, but had thrust her hand deep into a small purse so that only her shoulder was visible. She pulled out a jacket and a pair of shoes and pushed them into his arms. “I’ll need you to put those on. Hand me your cloak.”

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Teddy pulled off his cloak and put on the jacket. Then, hopping on one foot at a time, he removed his boots and put on the Muggle shoes. He was glad there was no mirror for him to look at. The clothing felt odd, with the shoes too short and the jacket too large. Kaylee looked him up and down, nodding her approval, and led him towards the crowd. She handed a small leather object to him, which, when opened, revealed a gold badge.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Auror badges,” said Kaylee, beginning to push her way through the crowd of Muggles. “We only really use them with the police. They get touchy when people try to interfere with their business. Just hold it up when you cross the line, and no one should give you any trouble.”

She held up the yellow tape for Teddy to walk under, showing the badge to an officer who came running towards them, looking very cross.

“Look, Ms. Stout. I don’t care how far up the government this goes. You can’t keep bringing strangers into a crime scene like this. This lad is a child. No way he’s a special agent for whatever part of the CIA MI5 you came crawling from.”

Kaylee waved for Teddy to keep walking and headed off the officer herself. Teddy jogged up the stairs to the front door and opened it, letting himself inside the house. The commotion outside disappeared the moment he closed the door behind him. 

Teddy could hear muffled voices ahead, and followed them through the hallway and back into a bedroom. A foul stench filled the air as he passed through the doorway. The mutilated body of a girl, no more than sixteen years old, came into view.

Peter was standing so close to the body that his nose seemed to be nearly touching it, while Morris walked slowly around the room while drinking what Teddy assumed was tea. The clock in the hallway chimed, telling them that it was now officially the next day, as the door outside opened once again. Kaylee ushered in Whistler, who was wearing a tight skirt. Teddy tried to disguise his laughter as a cough, but received a glare from her none the less.

“Kaylee, I don’t care how long we’ve been friends. The next time you make me wear something like this, I will hex you!” Whistler muttered. Kaylee gave a rather mischievous smile as she leaned against the doorframe. Her face paled slightly as she caught sight of the body.

“What do you look so pleased about?” Whistler snapped at Teddy, who immediately adopted a look of regret as she directed her glare towards him. Scowling, she pulled out her wand and Transfigured the pinstriped skirt into a pair of gray cargo pants. Teddy opened his mouth to say something, but Morris cut him off.

“Stout, who found the body? I’m assuming it was a Muggle?”

Kaylee nodded, seeming relieved to have a reason to look away from the body and back at her files. “Yes. A friend of Victim One: Piers Polkiss, Jr. He’s sitting in the kitchen with one of the Muggle officers. The one who was first on site.”

“Lupin, go and ask the officer and this Polkiss all the usual questions. Stout, go with him so you can modify their memories if needed. Whistler, go and see if you can find out where Trocar got off to. See if she even knows that someone in her house was killed.”

The two of them nodded. As they made to leave the room, Peter called out, “Teddy, see if you can find a knife or something in the kitchen, will you? I’m not sure that magic killed this kid.”

Teddy nodded and made his way towards the kitchen with Kaylee. Whistler, ignoring Kaylee’s protests, walked right back through the front door without transfiguring her cargo pants back into a skirt. Knowing it was a lost cause, Teddy led Kaylee towards the kitchen, where a rather rat-faced boy was sitting, holding a cup of tea that did not look like it had been touched. Teddy opened his mouth to speak, but Kaylee stepped on his foot and spoke while his eyes watered.

“Hello, Mr. Polkiss. My name is Kaylee Stout, and this is Teddy Lupin. If you’re feeling up to it, we need to ask you some questions.” 

The boy nodded once, and Kaylee gestured that it was all right for Teddy to sit down. From her bag, she withdrew a notebook and some kind of Muggle writing utensil he’d seen Harry use a few times.

“So, Mr. Polkiss, can you tell me what happened? Walk me through how you found Ms.…” Teddy trailed off, realizing that he did not know the victim’s name.

“Jones. Rose Jones,” Kaylee supplied. The name seemed to spark the Muggle back to life slightly. He looked up at Teddy, surprised to find someone sitting across the table from him. Teddy repeated the question.

“We’ve – we’ve been seeing each other for a while now. Nearing our three-month anniversary, and she called, said I should come over and celebrate. Well, when I knocked, the door just sort of opened. So I went inside – only the bedroom light was on, so I figured, well – but – but that’s when I –” Piers looked back down at his tea, and Teddy watched as its still surface broke into a ripple from a tear.

Teddy turned to the Muggle policeman. “And I’m assuming that’s when he called you, Officer…?”

“Williams,” the officer said. “Yeah, I got a call round half ten, I’d say. Found this one sitting over the body, just staring. I called for Homicide, and then you lot showed ‘round eleven.”

“All right, kid. You’ve asked your questions. This ain’t your case. No way.” A man came charging into the kitchen. He wore a rather plain suit, but had a badge around his neck and a gun at his side. “There’s no way that girl is involved in something that’s ‘national security.’”

Teddy stood, trying not to feel insulted by being called a kid.

“Sorry, I think there must have been some miscommunication –“ Kaylee started, but the man cut her off.

“This is my crime scene and my witness. I don’t need any of you lot messing with it. You’re not much older than the victim. No way you’re a government agent.”

“Is there a problem here, Inspector?” All of them turned around to find Morris walking toward them. The Muggle inspector swore.

“Ah hell, should have known it was you, Morris. What’s your reason this time? More explosives being mixed, even when we can’t find a hint of that? Or is this sixteen-year-old secretly part of that cult you were hunting down a few years back?”

Morris walked so close to the inspector that their noses nearly smashed into one another. The inspector took a few shocked steps back. 

“The fact that I am here,” said Morris, “should be enough for you, Inspector Bishop. This is my crime scene until I decide it’s not. Get out.”

The two men glared at one another. Morris towered over the inspector, who seemed to be deflating as quickly as his face turned red. He huffed, but could not seem to come up with anything else to say. Grabbing Officer Williams, he stomped back down the hall before suddenly stopping abruptly.

“Morris, I swear this is the last straw,” he shouted. “I’m going to have a word with my captain, and we’ll see who’s laughing then!” Bishop pushed Williams through the open door and slammed it shut. Morris turned back to Teddy as if nothing had happened.

“Dorneget took the body back to the Ministry,” he said. “Go and get a few hours of sleep before coming in tomorrow. He should have his examination done by then.”

Teddy nodded. Yawning, he said goodbye to Kaylee, who was now sitting with the Muggle boy. There were fewer people outside the house now, but several distinctive robes could be seen among the Muggle neighbors.

“Mr. Lupin!” he heard someone call, and Teddy turned, trying to find the source of that very familiar voice. “Mr. Lupin! Over here!” 

Teddy’s eyes fell on a woman with boisterous, curly blonde hair and acid green robes, who peering at him over her glasses. Teddy sighed and seriously considered Disapparating in front of the whole crowd, despite the Muggles present. Unfortunately, experience had taught him that ignoring her would be far worse than the half-truths she typically told.

“What do you want, Rita?” said Teddy quietly, not daring to take a step towards her. She lifted the yellow tape and strode towards him, ignoring the outraged policemen calling after her. She already had her notebook with her quill ready to spew ink across the pages.

“Oh my dear pup,” she said, showing her horribly white teeth and tickling Teddy’s chin with her quill. “This is a thrilling story! Can you confirm the identity of the body for me?”

Teddy focused on keeping his hands in his pockets, and uttered the usual Harry-approved line for Rita. “No comment.”

“Oh, but Teddy! Surely you don’t want your godfather to get all of the credit? Tell me, how does it feel to be in his shadow at work? Is it true that he refuses to take even direct orders from the Minister?” 

Teddy’s already strained smile faltered. 

“What about the fact that this is a purely Muggle case, other than that fact that the house is owned by a witch? Why is Harry allowing the Aurors to investigate? Surely you must have more important things to do?”

“No comment,” said Teddy flatly, but despite that, Rita’s quill was already buzzing across the page. Her smile only grew.

“And what about the rumors that not everything is well with you and that Veela girl? Are you prepared to finally speak up about the side effects of prolonged exposure to Veela magic? I could get you on the front page: _Free at Last! My Life as a Slave to a Beauty.”_

“Goodbye, Rita.” Teddy said, and he forced himself past her and her photographer before he risked losing his temper and breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. As he left, his hair turned the same horrible green as her robes.


	8. Rumors Rampant

A horrible sound echoed in Teddy’s ears as he was forced awake by his alarm spell. Without thinking, he tossed his wand across the room, hoping to stop the spell. He watched with half-opened eyes as the wand bounced off the window and fell against the curtains. They burst into bright purple flames, causing Teddy to fall out of bed, still tangled in his blankets, and grope across the floor for his wand.

“Aguamenti!” Teddy shouted, and water shot out of the tip of his wand, extinguishing the flames. He let his forehead fall to the floor while his curtains smoked. If he had not been so tired, he probably would have laughed at this. Ignoring the resulting pain in his forehead, Teddy had almost fallen asleep again when he heard a soft tapping on his window. Untangling his feet from the blankets, Teddy stood and opened the window, letting the owl inside. It dropped a copy of _The Daily Prophet_ on his bed and flew back out the window without ever landing.

With a flick of his wand, the water in Teddy’s kettle began to boil. He picked up a mug from the sink, cleaned it quickly, tossed a teabag in the bottom, and filled it to the brim with hot water. He grabbed some leftovers from the last dinner he’d had at the Potter’s house and began to eat them cold.

Teddy stopped chewing as he opened up _The Daily Prophet_ to see a picture of his own, very tired face from the previous night. He did not read the byline. The heading was enough for him to know that once again, he was in the spotlight because of Rita Skeeter. 

POTTER’S PUP INVESTIGATES MUTILATED MUGGLE

Not even bothering to read the rest of the article, Teddy downed his hot tea, threw some Floo powder into his fireplace, and stepped into the green flames. He never appreciated how popular the _Prophet_ was until moments like this, when he found himself as the source of the news. It seemed that every Ministry witch and wizard he passed had their eyes glued to Rita’s article, and that wasn’t even mentioning the two _Daily Prophet_ newsstands he passed on his way to the lifts. Teddy morphed his face into a slightly different shape, just in case someone decided to look up, but no one seemed to realize that he was the one they were muttering about.

“You think it’s true?” he overheard a short witch say to her friend as he squeezed into the lift. “You think Harry Potter’s kid is investigating a case that the Minister told him not to?

“How young do you think Potter must have been to have a grown kid?”

“I though his oldest was at Hogwarts. D’you think he kept something from his wife?”

Teddy rolled his eyes, wondering if Rita was ever going to stop her favorite line of inquiry into the life of Harry Potter’s friends and relatives. Despite always being happy to allude to Teddy’s wolfish heritage, she was just as thrilled to claim Harry was his true father when it sold more papers. 

The lift stopped as the witch’s cool voice above him announced this to be Level Two. Teddy pushed his way through the pack of people and out onto the landing. He had to hastily grab his cloak in order to prevent the gold doors from trapping him, then glanced up just in time to see everyone hastily looking away from him. Teddy sighed. He did not have the advantage of his metamorphic abilities in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Even Gladys seemed less welcoming than usual as he walked through the Thief’s Downfall.

It was with a sigh of relief that he disappeared into headquarters. Only a few people glanced up at him as he walked though, and those who did smiled wryly rather than looking upset. He guessed that enough of them knew about Rita’s love of making Harry’s life harder for them to put too much faith in her writing. Neither Morris nor Peter were in their block of cubicles as Teddy turned into them.

Only Whistler was there. She was completely hidden by the _Prophet_ except for the feet she had propped up on her desk. On Teddy’s arrival, she flipped the top half of the paper down and grinned like a goblin at him.

“I’m hurt, Teddy,” she said. “You never thought to tell me that you aren’t the son of a werewolf after all, but Harry Potter’s firstborn!” 

Teddy glared at her, which only caused her to laugh more. A few interdepartmental memos flew past, and Teddy redirected them to dive-bomb Whistler’s head before continuing on their way. He slumped into his chair, now fervently wishing that he had simply let his curtains burn to the ground and gone back to bed. Whistler flicked the paper back up and continued reading it, though Teddy noticed she had moved onto the sports section.

“Lupin!” 

Teddy jumped, looking up at the next level to see Morris waving him from beside Harry’s office. Teddy dragged his feet up the stairs. He could not count the times he’d received the “be wary of Skeeter” lecture from his godfather, but he was dreading having to listen to it in front of Morris. He wondered, with a sense of foreboding, if this was just the sort of slip-up that could end the probationary period he was currently on. Surely if Harry was going to fire him, he would do it privately? Or was Morris going to insist that Teddy be stuck with desk duty so that he didn’t cause any more problems?

Teddy knocked on the doorframe, surprised to see that there were three people in the office.

“Come in, Teddy,” Harry said. His fingers were pressed together, and he looked as if he had been up most of the night. “Obviously everyone’s seen Skeeter’s new story…” Harry started, before being cut off by the only non-Auror in the room.

“And you don’t deny that it’s true?” This man, Teddy noticed, was wearing the same top hat as he had when they’d first met at Gringotts. He was a Wizengamot member whom Morris had not seemed fond of. 

Harry pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “You’re going to have to be more specific, Bates,” he said, sighing. “Rita claimed an awful lot in that article.”

“You know which part I mean. Is it true that you are allowing Morris’ team – specifically, your son—”

“Godson,” said Harry and Teddy together, in the same exasperated tone.

“Fine,” Bates sneered, making it obvious that he did not believe them. “Specifically, your godson – to investigate a Muggle crime?”

“As Morris told you when you sent an owl to him at four in the morning, he’s not yet ruled out magical involvement,” said Harry, speaking over Bates. “If a Wizard was involved, then it is specifically an Auror case, and not general Magical Law Enforcement’s, due to the gruesome nature and possible Muggle-targeting.”

“Look, Potter,”Bates said, and Teddy doubted that anyone in the room had missed the sudden drop in Bates’ even tone. “As a member of the Wizengamot, and as the Chief Prosecuting Warlock, I’m sure I’m not alone in my belief that we don’t need articles like this going around.” 

He tossed a fresh copy of _The Daily Prophet_ down on Harry’s desk, and Teddy saw something flash in his godfather’s eyes that he wasn’t sure he’d seen before. He could not think what it meant, but it seemed that both Morris and Bates had noticed it too. 

Harry stood up and moved around from behind his desk, facing Bates. Harry was taller, more gangly, and far thinner than Bates, who was built like a Beater, yet there was no doubt in Teddy’s mind that Harry was trying to intimidate Bates, and despite Harry’s worn-out Muggle clothing, Teddy could tell that Bates was indeed nervous. 

“Bates, this is the Auror office,” said Harry slowly. “We exist to make your life easier. If Morris thinks there’s probable cause that a wizard was involved, we have a responsibility to investigate that. This article is nothing new. Skeeter just wants my attention, so please, get out of my office so that I can do my job.” 

Harry never once raised his voice, but Teddy felt a new sympathy for James and Al getting in trouble when their father was home. Teddy thought he heard one of the portraits behind Harry’s chair snicker. It seemed that Bates was finally on the verge of finding a retort when a knock on the door snapped all of them out of the spell they seemed to be under. 

“Come in,” Harry said, just as pleasantly as if Bates had never said anything at all. The door opened, and Peter’s head poked in curiously. Teddy watched as he glanced around the room. His eyes widened as they landed on Teddy, the paper, and the short distance at which Bates and Harry were standing. 

“I’ll come back lat—“ 

“No, come in. We’re done here anyhow,” Harry said, not even bothering to look back at Bates. 

“Oh, well,” said Peter nervously. “I thought you and Morris might want to know the results of my examination.” 

Peter stood aside to allow Bates to pass through the door. Teddy watched through the frosted glass walls of Harry office as Bates’ steps slowed considerably – no doubt dawdling at the door to see if he could hear the results. 

Peter handed the file over to Harry, who read it, and Teddy watched his godfather’s face fall. He suddenly looked much older than thirty-five. He handed the file over to Morris without speaking.

“You’re sure, Peter?”

Peter nodded. “Yes, sir. Rose Jones was not killed by any form of magic I can find. She was stabbed to death by something small but very sharp. A brutal way to go, but nothing magical.” 

The fast steps of Bates running back into the office could not have been louder. His smug face appeared back in the doorframe. “Potter?” he said, in a voice that was full of mock politeness.

Harry sighed, but waved his hand in the air. “Fine. Yes, Bates, you get your way. Morris, given Peter’s findings, I have no choice to hand this case over to the Muggle authorities. It’s no longer the Auror office’s concern.” 

Bates nodded once and left the office in such a fashion that Teddy could have sworn he was skipping. Peter looked sheepish, like a child who wasn’t sure if he’d done something wrong. Morris had already opened his mouth, but Harry held up his hand before Morris could say a word. 

“There’s nothing I can do, Jeb. You and your team are back on your static posts. I’m sorry.”

It took a moment for Teddy to realize who Jeb was. He’d never heard of anyone calling Morris by his first name, let alone some sort of nickname. Peter was sliding closer and closer to the door. Harry gave him a small smile, waved him away, and asked him to close the door behind him. 

“Look,” he said quietly. “I can’t have you investigating this, Morris. But Teddy, for your search detail, I want you working with Kaylee Stout down in the Muggle Liaison Office. She’s going to be the lead on this, and as you’ve met Ravi and happen to be a detective, I’m sure your insight will prove valuable.” 

There was a small smile on Harry’s face as he said these words. Morris nodded once and left the office, a rare twinkle in his eyes. Teddy slumped down in one of the empty chairs, glanced back at the paper, and wished he could burn it with his eyes. Harry was scribbling on a notepad, and he then folded the note into an airplane and sent it zooming on its way. For a moment, the two of them listened to the ticking of the clock.

“You all right?” Harry eventually asked, and Teddy glanced up at Harry, shrugging.

“Look, Harry – about the paper – I’m sorry,” he said. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. “For what? If you’d Disapparated, she’d have said we were trying to cover it up or something.”

Teddy’s mood lightened considerably at this. 

“You’ve grown up in the public view, Ted. No matter how hard we tried, there was no way around it. Now, we could have done with a few less kisses at the Quidditch World Cup, but no one is perfect. I didn’t allow you to be an Auror just because you’re my godson, Teddy. You’ve got to know that.” 

It was as if his godfather knew – knew exactly what it was about the article that had bothered Teddy so much. 

“You earned where you are now,” Harry continued. “Look at the goblin case a few weeks back. You were the one put it all together in the end.”

Teddy nodded, watching his hair return to his favorite shade of turquoise in the reflection of the window. He stood, and Harry gave him a quick side-hug while he muttered a thanks. 

“Now, get up to the Muggle Liaison office – and say hello to Arthur for me, won’t you?” Harry asked, opening his office door. Teddy nodded, smiling widely, and left the office.


	9. Safe Haven

Teddy had walked through the Muggle Liaison Office before, but he had never spent any significant amount of time there. It was one floor up, behind a set of glass doors that each bore an image of a witch and Muggle standing arm-in-arm. The witch’s wand was hidden behind her back, to illustrate the importance of the International Statute of Secrecy. Teddy emerged from the lift and was immediately met by Kaylee, who was beaming.

“This is brilliant!” she hissed, grabbing his arm and dragging him through the doors into a large, cubicle-filled room that was not unlike the Auror Office. “I knew Harry wasn’t going to give up. Now, a few people know what you’re doing here, but Clemmy Gamp – that’s our Head – thinks it’s best if most of the office thinks you’re here to help with the Bainbury Papers.”

“The Bainbury Papers?”

“They don’t actually exist – Clemmy made them up – but they’re a convenient excuse if we ever need to do anything on the down-low. You can tell people whatever you want about them. The point is that they’re supposed to be really complicated and will probably take years to sort out.”

“Right,” said Teddy as Kaylee led him over to her cubicle and sat him down on a hot pink rolling chair that she conjured for him. “So, er, do you want to check over my notes from yesterday?”

As he handed her a sheaf of parchment to review, he couldn’t help looking around at the things she had stuck her cubicle. Among the calendars and thank-you notes from wizards who had needed help with liaisons, there was an enormous blue and cranberry flag draped across one wall, accompanied by some cartoonish doodlings of Pukwudgies that gamboled across the walls and several photographs of a lazy-eyed Crup wearing a yellow raincoat. Teddy could not for the life of him understand how Kaylee and Whistler had ever become friends.

“Whistler was my Potions partner third year,” said Kaylee, as if she had read his mind. She put down the parchment with a gesture that told Teddy that she had found the contents rather boring. “We got along terribly until I, er, accidentally exploded our cauldron during an Ageing Potion lesson. We became middle-aged ladies after about five seconds. It took Healer Addison ages to sort us out – we hadn’t made the potion quite right, you see. Bit hard to hate each other after that.”

Teddy snorted. Whistler had never told him that particular story, for some reason. She was usually very smug about her potion-making ability, as she’d received a NEWT of the highest level.

“I didn’t know she spent time in America.” Teddy said, trying to remember the first time he had met the hot-headed Slytherin.

Kaylee nodded. “She spent her third year at Ilvormory, part of an exchange program while her dad toured the states. Taught all of my fellow Pukwudgies to duel. It was great.”

“That’s our Whistler,” said Teddy. He pulled his parchment back over and took out a quill and ink. “So where d’you want to start? We’ll have to talk to Ravi, of course, but there’re also the Muggle neighbors, and figuring out what might have stabbed the victim, and maybe we should talk to some Curse Breakers, too.”

“Yeah,” said Kaylee thoughtfully. “It’s going to be tricky, isn’t it? No access to anything in the Auror department…”

Teddy frowned down at his parchment, and, for lack of anything better to do, he drew a tiny picture of a badger, and enchanted it to join Kaylee’s doodles on the wall.. They both watched as the the two animals acquainted themselves to one another. . A light chuckle from above his head made him stop and look up.

Arthur Weasley, bespectacled and almost completely bald, except for tufts of red hair poking out around the back of his head, was standing beside Kaylee’s cubicle, grinning. For a second, Teddy wondered why his stomach squirmed slightly at the sight of him; then he remembered King’s Cross and almost knocked over his inkwell. There was no question that Victoire’s grandfather knew about their relationship by now.

“Teddy,” said Arthur warmly, looking down at the parchment he was now hastily blotting. “Harry told me you’d be with us for the next few weeks – or however long it takes to solve a case, I suppose. How long _does_ it take?”

“I’m not sure,” said Teddy. “I’ve only done one so far.”

“Well, I’m sure you’re doing excellently. But I wouldn’t expect anything less. Not from someone who, rumor has it, is soon to be a member of our family, eh?”

Teddy immediately reddened – and worse, he knew his hair was turning closer to silvery blond by the second. “I, er – we haven’t got any plans to – not yet, at any rate –”

“Oh, I know.” Arthur’s eyes twinkled. “It was the same with me and Molly, you know. ‘Not until after Hogwarts’, we said – and even then, there were some who thought we were too young! Well. Vic was my first grandchild, of course, and so I’m morally bound to tell you that I’ll have to curse you if you hurt her. But Molly and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

“That’s – that’s – thank you. I – that means a lot.” Teddy wished Victoire was there with him, to take his hand and assure Arthur that on no account would Teddy ever hurt her. That’s how they had planned to tell the Weasleys, but that was before James had gone spreading it all over London.

“Anyway, I’m not just here to say hi,” said Arthur. He turned to Kaylee, making it clear that this part of the conversation was between the three of them. “Harry spoke to me about what you’re doing; asked me to see if I could help out in any way. It was a bit of a slow morning, so I checked the Wizarding census records for Ravi’s area. As it turns out, there’s a Wizarding family just a few streets away – the Rabnotts, they’re called. I’m not saying they’re guilty – it seems highly unlikely that they are, as they were on our side during the war – but I definitely think you should talk to them. They probably know more than we do about Ravi, for example.”

“Huh,” said Teddy. “D’you think they heard anything?”

“Well, that’s the question,” said Arthur. “We only know for certain that the grandmother was home at the time, or at least, I assume she was. She just celebrated her one-hundred-and-twenty-seventh birthday.”

“Ah,” said Kaylee. “I suppose she could have stabbed him with her walking stick…”

Arthur smiled. “The parents were killed during the second war, but there are three children – well, four, but one’s a Squib. They inherited the house with their grandmother, and live there together.”

“Still,” said Teddy, “it’s something to go on, isn’t it? Maybe they know Ravi, even if she hasn’t lived in that house for years. What if we stopped by tonight? They’d all be back from work, and if they were on my parents’ side of the war, I’m sure they’d be happy to speak to us.”

“The only problem is,” said Kaylee, “how do we act like this is a Muggle investigation if we’re going to talk to wizards? The department don’t like that sort of thing at all.”

Arthur suddenly gave a rather mischievous smile. “I’ve already sorted it out for you. Told the powers that be that you’ve got a very important fellytone call to take with those Muggle Aurors. To, er – talk over that skirmish you had the other day.”

“Policemen,” said Kaylee, giggling. “They’re called policemen. In the end I just Confunded them all – but let’s keep that between you and me, shall we?”

*

Teddy and Kaylee spent the rest of the day pacing around Piers’ neighborhood, ringing doorbells and asking people what they knew about the crime that had taken place two nights previously. Everyone seemed eager to discuss the gory details of the murder, but nobody seemed to know very much. Teddy had more or less expected this. His Auror training, however, had taught him to leave no stone unturned, and coming away with the knowledge that none of the Muggles were hiding any crucial information was something, at least.

The thing that Teddy hadn’t anticipated was the moon, which was one day away from being full. He always forgot – there was never a time when he hadn’t forgotten. Growing up, his gran had always stressed just how lucky that made him. 

“So sounds get a bit louder and smells get a bit smellier – your father would be thanking his lucky stars that’s all you have to contend with. Do you know how happy he was after you were born, after he’d got back from that month’s transformation and found that you were all right? I’d never seen a smile like that before, and I don’t think I will again.”

Teddy knew that she was right, but that didn’t change the fact that the days around full moons were just _uncomfortable_ , and that wasn’t counting the psychological aspects of knowing what his father would be going through if he were still alive. Teddy’s already-heightened senses got much stronger than usual, to the point where certain foods made him gag and loud noises rang in his ears. Everything just seemed brighter and sharper and too much. Teddy was good at hiding it, but he couldn’t pretend it wasn’t incredibly annoying.

When night fell and the many horrible smells of end-of-the-day garbage bins reminded Teddy what day it was, he didn’t say anything to Kaylee, but wondered whether Whistler had ever mentioned his parents to her. He hoped not. He didn’t want it to influence anything that happened in their investigation tonight.

“Right,” he muttered, his own voice sounding so loud that he might have put an accidental Sonorus charm on it. “It’s that house over there, isn’t it? The tan brick one at the end of the road?”

It was. Though it was mostly identical to the other posh, well-kept houses on the West London street, the people who lived there had made some subtle efforts to clue fellow wizards and witches in. All the flowers in the front garden were purple and green, the colors that marked magic in Muggle communities. There was a type of rare toadstool useful in potions growing out of a pot, and if you listened carefully to the wind chime above the door, you might become aware that it wasn’t entirely dependent on waiting for a breeze.

Teddy shrugged at Kaylee, she shrugged back, and they both knocked.

A woman who looked to be in her mid-forties opened the door cautiously and looked them up and down, her eyes narrowed. She had dark curly hair that hung just below her shoulder blades and a nose that was rather beaky. 

“Are you one of the Rabnotts?” said Teddy. “I’m Teddy Lupin, with the Aur – er, with the Muggle Liaison Office.”

“And I’m Kaylee Stout,” Kaylee chimed in, withdrawing her ID so the woman could see it. “You’re not in trouble or anything, don’t worry. We just want to see if you can help us with something.”

But the woman’s face had cleared from the instant Teddy told her his surname. “Of course! You’re Tonks’ son, aren’t you? I remember her from Hogwarts – although I was Ravenclaw and she was Hufflepuff. You look just like her.”

Teddy tried to smile. As a Metamorphmagus, he was never sure what that meant. By all accounts, his mother had changed her appearance just as often as he did.

“Anyway, yes – I’m Liana Rabnott. I don’t know who you were hoping to speak to, but Pontus and Erebus are here, and Carmanor and his wife Olivia just got back. Do you want some tea, or…?”

“That would be lovely,” said Kaylee immediately, and Liana led the way into the sitting room, which was just as posh as the rest of the house, with an enormous velvety carpet and antique family heirlooms locked away inside an ancient wooden cupboard. On the way, Teddy did his best to explain why they were there. Liana had heard about the murder and was immediately interested.

“I wasn’t here that night – my boyfriend lives in Devon – but it’s such a terrible thing, isn’t it? I mean, our parents died trying to protect a Muggle-born family – they’d hidden them under protective charms, but You-Know-Who’s people found out about it. I’d hoped that sort of thinking was gone by now. But I suppose you can’t stamp out prejudice forever. It’s just hard to believe that it happened here, of all places. And in Ravi’s house!”

“So you know Ravi?” said Teddy, before he could help himself.

“Oh yes, I’ve known her all my life. She lived in that house while we were growing up – we had her round to dinner all the time. Or – well, you know what I mean; we had dinner. She was so lovely to us after Mum and Dad were killed. Offered to come and stay for a while. I don’t know what we’d have done without her.”

“What does she think about all this?” said Kaylee.

“I don’t know,” said Liana, looking troubled. “I wrote her yesterday, but I haven’t heard anything back. I’d imagine it would hit her pretty hard.” She frowned. “I’ll get the tea, shall I, and my brothers?”

Teddy and Kaylee were silent for a moment from their places on the plush sofa Liana had directed them to. Teddy was thinking about what Liana had said when she’d found out who he was. He was used to meeting people who had known one or both of his parents, and he had never liked the feeling that they knew more about them than he did. And yet part of him wanted to stay here longer than was professional, linger after Kaylee left, and ask Liana to tell him everything she remembered.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden noise from the pocket of his cloak, hitting his sensitive ears so hard that he covered them instinctively.  
Kaylee frowned over at him. “I think that’s your mirror,” she said. “You all right?”

Teddy nodded quickly and withdrew his pocket mirror. Peter Dorneget’s face blinked back at him, pale from two days of overtime work.

“Harry’s got me doing extra autopsy work on the down-low,” he said quietly. “And I’ve found something out. Something important.”

“Yeah?”

“The victim’s neck. Merlin, Teddy, this is just getting worse and worse. We found puncture marks. Undeniable puncture marks. Either it was a vampire who killed her – or someone was trying to make us think it was. I don’t know how I’m going to tell Harry.”

Teddy let this sink in. Harry knew Ravi well; he’d never for a moment suspect her of murdering an innocent Muggle for blood. But vampires could be unpredictable, he knew. Was there a chance that Ravi had just been playing everyone this whole time? Concealing her true nature for all these years? She’d seemed perfectly normal when he had met her, but then again, he hadn’t gotten to know her well…

But then again, that was exactly what people thought about werewolves, wasn’t it? And Teddy knew – Teddy’s mere existence was proof – that those prejudices were unfounded. His father had been a great man. Everyone said so.

“What’s going to happen with the investigation?” Teddy asked. “With this new evidence… Harry will have to publicly reopen the case for the Auror Department again.”

“Yes,” said Peter. “And I think that’s going to be very unpleasant for everybody, because Harry will be expected to lock Ravi up. And I think you and I both know that he is not going to want to do that.”

“Has anyone spoken to Ravi?” said Kaylee, leaning over Teddy’s shoulder so that Peter could see her face in the mirror. “The people we’re talking to right now are friends with her. They told us they hadn’t heard from her in a few days.”

“No one knows where she is,” said Peter. “Wise, I think. A crime committed in a known vampire’s home… she doesn’t have much choice. But on the other hand, it does make her look guilty.”

“Do you think it’s possible that she is?” said Kaylee slowly. “Guilty, I mean?”

But before Peter could answer, Liana returned with three men who looked very much like her, all with the same beaky nose and mess of dark curls. A small woman with a blonde ponytail followed behind them. Teddy hastily shut his compact and stood up to shake their hands as Liana waved sloshing teacups over to the coffee table.

“Meet my brothers,” said Liana. “This is Pontus, He’s the oldest.” 

Pontus was stocky, with broad shoulders and bright blue eyes. When he spoke, his voice came out as a merry sort of growl. “Good to meet you, Teddy and Kaylee. I’m glad someone’s investigating this. If I’ve owled them once, I’ve owled them a hundred times. For the past few days, it’s seemed to me like the Ministry just wants to pretend this never happened.”

“Well, we’re not ignoring it,” said Teddy, highly conscious of the fact that he was here as a representative of the Muggle Liaison Office and not the Auror Department. “Any information you could give us would be very helpful.”

“I don’t know much, but I’d be happy to share anything you might want to know,” said a second man, this one shorter and significantly younger than Pontus and Liana, with hair that seemed more liable to stick up. “I’m Erebus. Squib,” he added ruefully, when Teddy noticed the way he winced when he picked up his steaming teacup. “I may not be able to do magic, but I do notice when things aren’t what they should be.”

“And I’m Carmanor,” said the third man, who was taller and thinner than any of the others. “And this is Olivia, my wife. We were both here on the night of the murder, and although we didn’t hear anything, there might be some little detail we forgot. Feel free to ask us anything.”

“I’d met Rose, a few times,” Olivia added, nervously shaking out her blonde hair. “Just cordially, you know – we try to keep on good terms with the Muggle neighbors, so Carm and I accepted Piers’ invitation to a dinner party. It was a bit awkward, but I came away feeling like I knew them pretty well. If that helps you in any way.”

“Wow,” said Teddy, looking around at them all. He could hardly believe how helpful they were all being. It was such a contrast from his last case that it hardly seemed real. “That’s really great – thank you so much. We’ve actually prepared a list of questions for you, if you don’t mind having a look at that –”

He stopped talking abruptly. A sharp knock had sounded at the door. The Rabnott siblings glanced around at each other, and when it came again, harder and more urgent this time, all four of them moved towards the door, Olivia watching them from her armchair.

“Are you expecting someone?” said Kaylee, walking behind them instead of waiting in the sitting room. Teddy quickly followed.

“No,” said Liana, speed-walking towards the door and then flinging it open. “But –”

There was no need to say anything else. Teddy understood.

Ravi Trocar stood on the threshold, her long black hair hanging around her head in clumps, dark shadows showing beneath her eyes. She looked so different from the poised, elegant Curse Breaker that Teddy had met at Harry’s that he couldn’t stop himself from staring for a second. She looked distressed, desperate.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking from Carmanor to Liana. “I’m so sorry, I don’t want to have to ask you to do this, I know it’s an awful burden to put on you. But that Rita Skeeter woman found out I own the house, and the article comes out tomorrow, and then everyone’s going to know, and I’m sure they’ll send Aurors –”

“We understand,” said Erebus, laying a hand on her shoulder, and he pulled her inside. “Don’t worry. You’re safe here.”

Liana suddenly gave Teddy and Kaylee a sharp look. “You’ll have to go,” she said. “You can come back later. I’m sure Ravi would be happy to talk to you. But we need to take care of her now.”

“Right,” said Teddy quickly. “Of course. I understand.”

“We can count on you to keep Ravi’s whereabouts strictly confidential, right?” said Pontus, his rough burr no longer merry. “You won’t tell anyone at the Ministry. Not even your boss.”

Teddy and Kaylee looked at each other.

“Or we’ll come after you,” said Carmanor threateningly. “And that’s a fact.”

“Harry probably doesn’t need to know right now,” Teddy muttered to Kaylee. “Not with everything else on his plate.”

“And Morris?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

They left the house, Teddy listening vaguely as Liana bolted the door behind them and began to cast protective spells. The nearly full moon winked up at him from above. He and Kaylee wandered back across London, both lost in their own thoughts.


	10. Plans Punctured

“Okay, Peter, show it to me again,” Teddy said.

“But Ted, I’ve already walked you through it a thousand times.” Peter’s hair was messy, and he looked exhausted. After all, they were getting into the early hours of the morning. But Teddy didn’t care. They needed to keep combing through Peter’s findings until they found something that would explain it all, something that cleared Ravi, that proved that she was innocent. Peter glared at Teddy, yawning, his arms crossed.

“Fine,” he said flatly. “But then I am going home to sleep. Stare at the body all night if you want to, but I need my rest.”

Teddy nodded, but said nothing else, waiting for Peter to begin once again. Nothing new came to Teddy as he watched Peter explain the puncture marks once again. Teddy had matched them against every kind of tooth he could think of – a Muggle trick he had picked up – and his conclusion was that due to their small, curved, narrow shape, the only things that could leave a mark like that were vampire fangs.

Vampires were rare, though they were more common in Europe than they were in England. As the condition had to be passed on deliberately, rather than randomly like werewolf bites, and few people wanted to give up food in exchange for blood, vampires’ numbers were dwindling. There were only two registered vampires in all of the UK: Ravi and another vampire named Sanguini. Sanguine had emigrated from Italy, while Ravi had been attacked while traveling in Transylvania, just after her graduation from Hogwarts. As far as Teddy was aware, she had never feasted on a human before, preferring to stick to animals.

“Look,” he said. “If it _was_ a vampire that killed Rose, then we can’t just jump to the conclusion that it was Ravi. She has no history of attacking humans.”

It was a statement he had voiced already. As expected, Peter came back with the same response he’d had the last three times. 

“It happened in her house, and we have no records of her being in contact with any other vampires. And Sanguini is currently on the road with that strange fellow he’s friends with.”

“But Sanguini has a history of consuming human blood.”

“Then go and talk to him, Teddy, but the chances of one vampire drinking someone dry in a separate vampire’s home…” Peter let his thoughts trail off as he covered the body and put a Freezing Charm on it. Teddy still stared at it, imagining Rose’s dead face beneath the cloth.

“Right,” Peter said, turning off the light and putting his traveling cloak on. “I either have to hand over the body to the Muggles, or tell Harry this information tomorrow morning. You’ve got until then to find something that clears her. Or they’ll have to take her in.”

Peter took the lift up towards the Atrium and left Teddy sitting alone in the dark. 

Harry had always told Teddy to trust his instincts, which were currently yelling that Ravi was not responsible. However, Teddy’s gut alone would not be able to clear her. Ravi was on the run, in hiding – no one but he and Kaylee knew where she was. And Teddy did not really think that Sanguini was killed Rose. Peter was right – he was currently traveling through Ireland. Vampires were faster than normal human beings, but not that quick.

Teddy sighed, rubbing his temples. He knew that if Ravi was caught, she would be convicted swiftly. The trial would be only a formality, and she would join the long list of dark creatures that wanted to be good, but could just not help themselves around uncontaminated people.

Trying to keep his anger down, Teddy made his decision and took the lift to the Muggle Liaison office. He doubted that Kaylee would still be in the office, but at the very least he could leave her a note. The Auror Office and Department of International Magical Cooperation seemed to be the only ones that truly never shut down. However, Teddy was surprised to see Kaylee still sitting at her desk. She was quietly humming the newest Weird Sisters single while doodling on her notepad. Teddy cleared his throat and she spun around, smiling widely.

“What are you still doing here?” he asked.

She twirled around in her chair a few times before answering. “Well, we’re partners right now. I figured you were staying for some reason, so I thought I’d hang around and catch up on work, just in case you needed something.”

He stared at her for a moment, wondering why she wouldn’t choose to do something else with her Friday night. Then, just like she had done before, Kaylee seemed to answer the question that he had not said out loud.

“Whistler and I had plans, but she’s on her security detail. Poor girl pulled the short straw and got sent to Azkaban for a twelve-hour shift.”

“Well I need a favor.” Teddy looked around to make sure no one was going to overhear him. “I need you to let me back into the crime scene.”

Kaylee stared at him for a long while before speaking, and Teddy thought he might finally understand how she and Whistler had become best friends. Then she nodded, and with a flick of her wand, filed the reports she had been working on and stood up. As she started to walk away, Teddy stared after her. He had not intended Kaylee to come with him.

“Come on,” she waved, without looking back. “It’s not like the charm can be undone from here.”

He chased after her and joined her in one of the lifts. It was impossible to Apparate within the Ministry unless you were in the Atrium. Their footsteps echoed in the empty hall as they walked towards the fountain, and then they spun on the spot, appearing in front of Ravi’s house. 

Kaylee wobbled upon landing and grabbed onto Teddy’s arm to steady herself. There was no one else on the street. Distantly, Teddy thought he heard bells chiming to the early hours of the morning. Kaylee waved her wand, and Teddy assumed that the spell that would alert the authorities to someone entering the crime scene had been silenced.

He opened the door and waited to see if any alarms went off, but the place remained still and quiet. He murmured a thank-you to Kaylee before attempting to close the door behind him. It bounced back open. Teddy looked down and saw Kaylee’s foot firmly rooted halfway across the threshold. She tried to step forward, but Teddy blocked her path with his arm.

Kaylee sighed, but stepped back “You’re not going to let me come with you. And you don’t want me to ask why, do you?”

Teddy shook his head and was surprised to see her merely shrug once before Disapparating off the front step. He glanced outside at the street one more time before closing the door behind him. 

If he could only find the knife that she had been stabbed with and somehow prove that that’s how she died! He lit the tip of his wand. The house had an eerie feel to it, though given what had happened, he supposed that shouldn’t be so surprising.

The house looked just as it had the night before. Teddy doubted that the police had set foot in here since the body was discovered. But he had not considered that they might have the knife hidden away in one of their evidence boxes. He wondered how severe of an infraction he would receive if he broke into the station and stole it.

His mind raced back to Ravi, hiding away only a few houses down. She was probably counting the seconds until the owls delivering the _Daily Prophet_ began swooping into Wizarding homes. Teddy had never been given notice when Skeeter had written something about him. As he had a few days ago, he typically didn’t see his face on the front page until he woke up. Teddy was not sure he would want the kind of advance notice that Ravi had without being able to do anything about it.

Without really being sure where to look, Teddy started his search in the bedroom. The scarlet sheets had turned a brownish-red color since his last visit, but otherwise the room looked the same. Teddy knelt down and looked under the bed, not really expecting to find anything. Surely if the knife had been in such an obvious location they would have found it. Doing his best not to disturb anything, he stumbled around the room, checking and rechecking every crevice. Only after an hour of searching did he have to conclude that the knife was not in the room. He had to admit that he was not really surprised. Chances were that it wasn’t even in the house. Whoever had committed the murder had probably taken it with them.

Searching the closet for the third time, Teddy froze as he heard a loud _creak_ coming from the hallway. He plunged himself into darkness as he extinguished the light from his wand and waited. His eyes burned from the intensity in which he was trying to see in the darkness, his wand raised, as a set of footsteps moved through the door. None of his senses could detect anything. Teddy continued to wait, holding his breath. 

“Lupin?” he heard a surprisingly close voice say. “That you?”

A wand lit a few feet away from him. Teddy stared as the pale face of Ravi, her red eyes gleaming, came into view.

“What are you doing here?” they said at the same time, in hushed whispers.

“Ravi, shouldn’t you be at the Rabnotts’?” Teddy lowered his wand, though he did not pocket it. If it was possible, Ravi looked even paler than last night. Her skin was ashen, almost translucent.

“I couldn’t stand just sitting there,” she said. “I was getting antsy.” Teddy noticed that her eyes kept flicking over to the pool of dry blood on the bed. “Erebus suggested coming here. See if there was anything that could help clear my name.”

Teddy sighed. He knew how it felt to live in fear, not just because of his actions, but because of his werewolf blood. He could imagine that actually being a dark creature would be much worse than simply being related to one.

“You shouldn’t have, Ravi,” he said. “Returning to the crime scene just makes you look guiltier.”

Scarlet flashed in her eyes. “Guiltier!” she snarled. “I’m not guilty at all. I’ve never hurt a human, never. I’ve never even had human blood.”

“Well, that can’t be true, can it?” said a voice from the dark hallway. Both Teddy and Ravi jumped, moving their wands towards the source of the sound. 

It was Bates, the prick from the Wizengamot who had removed Teddy from the case in the first place. His own wand was pointing at the pair of them as he stepped into the room.

“Well, well,” he said, not even bothering to hide his pleasure. “I thought you wouldn’t be able to let this go, _Lupin_. Considering your personal interest and all, you know. But not even I thought that you would go behind Potter’s back to help that _thing_ escape justice.”

Teddy’s grip on his wand tightened as he felt his anger bubbling up. Ravi appeared to be shaking, though whether it was from anger or hunger, he was not sure. Worried about what might happen, Teddy cautiously stepped forward, blocking Ravi from Bates’ view.

“Don’t be an idiot, Lupin,” said Bates. “I’ve already sent a message to Potter.” 

Teddy heard a soft crack and felt his stomach drop as he heard two familiar voices open the front door to Ravi’s house. Bates’ smile grew.

“In here, Potter! Looks like we’ve got two for Azkaban tonight!”

*

Harry’s face remained impassive throughout the entire arresting process. His eyes remained fixed on Ravi, Morris and Bates. Only once did he glance at Teddy. It barely lasted a second, but it was enough to give Teddy the impression that his godfather was silently ordering him not to utter a single word. Teddy watched as Morris Disapparated with Ravi, leaving Harry, Bates and Teddy alone in the room. Bates opened his mouth, but before he could get the words out, Harry broke in.

“Thank you, Bates, for bringing this to my attention, but I have to insist that this is where your involvement stops. Teddy is an Auror, and therefore his actions and their consequences are for his Head to deal with. Not the Wizengamot.”

“I’m not sure that is entirely appropriate, Potter,” said Bates. “Given your… relationship with Lupin.”

Harry walked over and grabbed Teddy by the arm. “Then take it up with the Minister,” he said shortly. 

Harry Disapparated back to the Ministry, taking Teddy with him. They landed in the Atrium, and Harry dropped his grip on Teddy’s arm, allowing him to walk of his own accord. Silently, Teddy followed his godfather to the lifts and stepped inside the first available one. It was still early in the morning, leaving the Ministry empty except a few wizards who worked graveyard shifts.

“In,” Harry said, opening his office door. Teddy stepped inside, trying to ignore how hard the door closed behind Harry. Harry pointed his wand at the frosted windows and door. _“Muffliato.”_

“Sit,” he said, and Teddy complied without a word. He followed Harry’s movements as Harry moved around to the other side of his desk and sat in the worn leather chair. Finally, Harry stared at Teddy. Teddy still could not make out any emotion in his green eyes.

“So?” Harry finally said after a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence.

“What do you want me to say?”

“How about what the _hell_ you were doing breaking into a crime scene at three in the morning? With the main suspect?” Harry did not yell, but Teddy could tell it took him some effort to keep his voice calm.

“You told me – well, okay, you _implied_ \-- that I should keep working on the case!” Teddy said, somewhat defensively.

Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Yes, but not to break the law. Teddy, you have to see how this looks to everyone. Ignoring regulations; investigating a case you’re not on; being found at the crime scene with a prime suspect who had gone on the run.”

Teddy shifted in his seat. He understood exactly what Bates and Rita Skeeter would try to insinuate. At best, it would be that he was trying to cover up for a friend. At worst, he could end up in prison for murder alongside Ravi.

“But this is Ravi, Harry,” Teddy said. “When she showed up at the Rabnotts’ house, she was terrified. She knew no one would believe her, and apparently Skeeter had got hold of the story somehow. If she had turned herself in –”

“Wait, you knew where Ravi was?” Harry interrupted. 

Teddy nodded.

 _“Merlin_ , Ted! And you didn’t report it? Did Kaylee know, too?”

Teddy shook his head. “No. I didn’t want her to get into trouble.”

Harry sighed once again, looking far older than thirty-six. Perhaps it was just the shadows under his eyes, or the fact that anyone would be tired at four a.m. He ran his fingers through his hair.

“At least there is that,” Harry said. They sat in another heavy silence for a few minutes, while Harry scribbled something onto a piece of parchment. Teddy watched the sun begin to rise through the enchanted window. When the scratching of the quill stopped, Teddy turned his attention back to Harry.

“I need you to tell me everything that’s happened since we last sat in this office.”

So Teddy explained the events of his last twenty-four hours, and as he talked, he began to realize the flaws in his actions. The pit in his stomach grew as he explained how Ravi had come knocking on the Rabnotts’ door and how he had promised not to divulge her location. He told Harry about what Peter had found and how he had decided to go to the house and see if he could find anything that could clear her name. Finally he told Harry about Ravi showing up at the house, trying to do the same thing.

“So you didn’t plan to meet her there, or ask her to come?” Harry asked, suddenly sounding much more like his normal self.

“No,” Teddy said. “Like I said, she was getting stir-crazy at the Rabnotts’. She wanted to see if she could find evidence, like me.”

“How did Bates know she was there, I wonder,” Harry muttered to himself. He was quiet for a moment, looking past Teddy, at something not in the office. 

“Look,” said Harry, turning his attention back to Teddy. “There’s no way around it; I’m going to have to suspend you until the end of this case. I’ve already written up the documentation, but I’m not going to take away your compact. You're officially on File Maintenance duty until further notice.”

Harry handed the piece of parchment over to Teddy to sign before he folded it into a paper airplane and sent it off to Internal Affairs. “Go home and get some rest, Teddy. Take tomorrow off. It’s probably for the best.”


	11. A Sharp Surprise

When Teddy woke up the next morning, he wasn’t sure at first why a heavy feeling of shame was sitting on his chest like a curled-up cat. It took him a moment to remember. When he did, he sat bolt upright, scanning the room for Moony, who must have flown in some hours ago. It was nearly noon: Teddy had been asleep a long time.  
  
He found the  _ Daily Prophet  _ in a heap on the floor. Moony clucked at him disapprovingly as Teddy folded his dressing gown around himself and staggered over to it, trying to think whether there was anything in the cupboards he felt like eating.  _ Damn  _ the full moon, on top of everything else. He thought cereal might be all right. He poured himself a rather small bowl of Pixie Puffs, and moistened it with water rather than milk.  
  
Only then did he allow himself to open the paper. He knew what was coming, but he still couldn’t stop a small groan from escaping when he saw Ravi’s panicked face emblazoned across the front page.   
  
__ VORACIOUS VAMPIRE ARRESTED FOR MUGGLE MURDER  
  
__ Ministry “Experiment” Found at Crime Scene, Reports Wizengamot Member Bates Absinthe  
  
Teddy almost crumpled up the paper and tossed it across the room, but was forced to freeze when he saw his own face at the bottom of the article, alongside some typically Rita Skeeter-esque descriptors.  __ “Rumors abound that obnoxiously blue-haired werewolf Auror Teddy Lupin was also found at the scene...” “All attempts to confirm have been met with cold silence on the part of Harry Potter, godfather to the same…” “Readers must ask themselves whether Potter is continuing his pattern of self-delusion in defense of yet another Dark creature…”  
  
Oh, so Rita had decided he wasn’t Harry Potter’s lovechild anymore – he was a full blown werewolf now _ , _ was he? The only thing that mattered was whatever suited Rita’s story best, apparently. Teddy finished his breakfast in several vicious bites. His father was a war hero, make no mistake about it, but the way certain people had talked about Remus Lupin during his childhood, you’d think he’d been on Voldemort’s side. For that reason, Teddy had rarely talked about his parentage during his Hogwarts years. Both his father and his werewolf status were well-known in the Wizarding World, but that didn’t mean everyone was going to connect Teddy to him.  
  
Well, now everybody who read the paper would. Teddy would just have to keep his head even further down than he had earlier in the week. After all, he  _ wasn’t  _ a werewolf, and he could certainly prove that. But he shouldn’t have to—Rita was fully conscious of the fact that she was telling lies—why couldn’t she leave him well enough alone?  
  
By some act of providence, his thoughts were interrupted my his compact, which cleared to reveal Kaylee’s grinning face. “Teddy’s in  _ trouble _ ,” she sang out, scanning his face for signs of a bigger story.  
  
“I’m fine,” said Teddy. “Harry’s just put me on file maintenance duty for the next twelve years. Anyway, you haven’t even  __ got  a compact—what are you doing?”

  
“Stole it from Whistler,” said Kaylee brightly. “I had an idea for the next step in our project.”

  
“Kaylee, we don’t  _ have  _ a project anymore. I’ll be sorting out papers from now until forever, and you’ll go back to whatever you were doing. I probably won’t see you again until Ministry Karaoke Night or whatever it is you keep trying to organize.”

  
“So are you saying you’ll go?! That’s wonderful, that makes five of us so far!”

  
Teddy was overcome by a fierce urge to take it back, but forced himself to stay on task. “I’ve got some Rita Skeeter damage to try and undo. And it’s going to take ages to get Harry to really trust me again. I’m sorry, Kaylee.”  
  
“Not acceptable,” said Kaylee, with a mulish look on her face. Apparently she could be just as stubborn as Whistler when she wanted to be. “Meet me in Diagon Alley at half one. In front of the joke shop.”  
  
She put down the compact before Teddy could say another word. He put his head in his hands and groaned, much more loudly than before.  
  
*  
  
Teddy set out for Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes forty-five minutes early, as it had been a long time since he’d had a proper chat with George and Ron. He turned his hair carrot-red for the occasion, lengthening his nose and strewing freckles across his face. He’d much prefer being taken for a Weasley relative than for himself today.  
  
His Floo Powder took him to the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, where he avoided meeting Hannah Abbott’s eyes, as she had an uncanny habit of being able to identify him no matter what he looked like that day. He swept ash off his knees, squared his shoulders, and headed for the joke shop at a half-run. On a Wednesday afternoon, it should be relatively uncrowded: he and the Weasleys should be able to talk without interruption.  
  
He was right—there was nobody inside except for a grumpy-looking warlock browsing the love potions, whom Teddy felt he could safely ignore. He strode through the front room to the cash register, where George Weasley was leaning over a large box of what looked like a hundred quills come to life, hopping up and down and trying to escape.  
  
“Mischief Markers,” said George, failing to recognize Teddy and holding a particularly wriggly quill up for him to see. “Especially for the Hogwarts students in your life. Swap one for your real quill in your most boring class, and let the mischief begin!”  
  
Teddy raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Somehow, I don’t see Victoire going for that. She’s got her NEWT’s to worry about.”  
  
George put the quill down abruptly, where it hopped happily out of sight. _“Teddy?”  
  
_ “Unfortunately,” Teddy agreed. “I don’t suppose you missed _The Daily Prophet_ today?”  
  
Ron must have been listening, because he came out of the back room, his arms crossed across his chest. “I keep telling Hermione it’s long past time to shut that woman up again. But you know what she’s like. ‘She’s much better than she used to be, Ron; at least she tells _some_ of the truth now.’ I just don’t think she has time to bother.”  
  
“Shut her up?” said Teddy curiously. He noticed that George seemed interested, too. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Never mind,” said Ron quickly, though not without a roll of his eyes. “I’m sorry about all that, Teddy. It's rubbish for you. You might want to make sure that people see you out and about tonight—you know, so that they know that you’re not—”  
  
“I’m not ashamed of my dad,” said Teddy, frowning. “I’m not going to let her make me be.”  
  
“Of course you’re not,” said George, throwing a look at his younger brother. “Remus was a decent bloke. The people who matter aren’t going to forget that. He saved my life once.” George gestured at the place where his ear used to be, and Teddy looked down. “Now… I’m sorry, but I’ve got to ask. _Were_ you at the scene of the crime? Only I’m not sure we want Victoire associating with people who have such little respect for the law…”  
  
Teddy snorted and whacked George on the shoulder, who gave him a wry grin. “You’ll have to ask Harry about that,” he said. “Top secret Auror stuff, that is.”  
  
“Hey, I used to be an Auror!” said Ron indignantly. “I’ve proven I’m trustworthy! And I remember when you were born, mind!”  
  
Teddy merely raised his eyebrows at him and strolled back into the front room, whistling to himself. Winding up the Weasleys was never without its charms. He glanced at his watch—still fifteen minutes before Kaylee was due to appear. He had no idea what she was planning, but he supposed he should try to keep himself entertained for as long as possible, as it was likely to be something that would make his head ache. He turned to the wall of new releases, wondering if he might find something to prank Whistler with on an especially sleepy morning.  
  
Along with the Mischief Markers, there were also several new flavors of Skiving Snackboxes, although Teddy couldn’t understand why flavor would matter if you were just going to vomit everything back up anyway. The fireworks, too, had some new variations to them: you could now buy your own Rocket Niffler, which would snap up everything shiny in the area and release them all in a glorious explosion.  
  
Teddy turned away from all of these; Morris was unlikely to be impressed if he used anything that obvious at the Ministry. He looked instead at the boxes at the bottom of the display, which held an assortment of fake trophies from magical creatures with chains attached, so that you could wear them around your neck. There were fake hippogriff feathers, vials of fake doxy venom, fake vampire teeth…  
  
Teddy started. He lifted a set of fangs from the box, his hands trembling slightly. Like almost everything at the joke shop, it seemed perfect upon first examination—just as sharp, just as threatening, as the real thing. The canines were dove-white and ended in two menacing points. As an experiment, he held them up to his neck and pressed down very lightly. He yelped and drew back. Heart hammering, he ran back to the register, the fangs flying from the chain they hung on.  
  
“George,” he said breathlessly, “George, these fake fangs. How long have you had them?”  
  
“Only about a week,” said George, looking bewildered. “Gilderoy Lockhart sort of joke, you know. Convince your classmates you single-handedly slew a vampire. Show them the teeth to prove it.”  
  
“Right,” said Teddy. He fumbled in his pocketbook for his Ministry identification card, although he knew George wouldn’t really need to see it. “I’m going to need to see a record of everyone who’s purchased them since they were put on display. It’s – it’s really important, George.”  
  
“Of course,” said George. “But I’d love to know what’s going on, if you can tell me about it later. Does it have anything to do with this whole Ravi Trocar situation?”  
  
Teddy glanced behind him. The loveless warlock seemed to have left. “Yes,” he said, “but I can’t tell you any more than that. And I haven’t got time—I’m supposed to be meeting someone in a few minutes—”  
  
George seemed to understand. He dashed into the back room and reemerged a few minutes later with a few sheets of parchment, which he thrust into Teddy’s arms. “Thank Merlin for Hermione Granger and the time she forced us to organize everything,” he said.  
  
The parchment contained a short list of surnames. Teddy thought about folding it into his pocketbook, but thought he would take a quick glance to see if anything jumped out at him first. For the first few seconds, nothing did. _Hyslop, Hitchin, Broadmoor, Stretton, Twelvetrees, Tuft…_ Teddy turned to the next page. _Wright, Graves, Rabnott, Alderton—  
  
_ Rabnott?  
  
Teddy stared at the parchment, willing it to reveal a name, an initial, anything that might shed more light on the person who had bought the fangs. Rabnott was a fairly common Wizarding surname, Teddy knew. But still—could it really be a coincidence that Ravi had considered the family some of her closest friends? Wasn’t it feasible that one of them—or all of them, for that matter—might have betrayed her?  
  
Before he could conjecture any further, Kaylee came marching in, looking rather puzzled. “I did say _in front of_ the jokeshop,” she said, in Teddy’s general direction.  
  
Teddy turned quickly. “You recognized me?”  
  
“You didn’t change the way your hair sticks up in the back,” said Kaylee. “Anyway, come __on , I said we’d be there at two, and we’re already running late.”  
  
“What?” said Teddy, his head still full of fake fangs and the Rabnotts.  
  
“We’re going to Azkaban,” said Kaylee. “I got clearance from Harry himself.’”  
  
Teddy blinked at her. Perhaps Harry’s plan that Teddy should stay home today was craftier than he had thought.  
  
“Yes,” said Kaylee, sounding quite pleased with herself. “We’re going to talk to Ravi.”  
  
*  
  
There were a variety of different ways for visiting wizards to get to Azkaban, but this was the first Teddy had heard of an entrance in Diagon Alley. According to Kaylee, they weren’t using the usual route from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement because too many people were likely to talk, especially after the morning’s paper. Harry had made it clear that they were to encounter as few people as possible on their way, and talk to nobody for longer than necessary.  
  
As Teddy followed Kaylee all the way down the long, winding street, he told her about what had happened in the joke shop, and how it seemed that at least one of the Rabnotts must be involved in some way. “The thing is, it’s all circumstantial, isn’t it?” he said, highlighting the thing that bothered him most. “When you’ve got evidence like the kind the Ministry has against Ravi… nobody’s going to want to look into something like this.”  
  
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re going on this little trip, then,” said Kaylee, gesturing towards a tiny, decrepit-looking garden shop that only seemed to be selling pots of Scurvy Grass. “We can tell Ravi all about it—ask her if there are any of the Rabnotts that she doesn’t fully trust. Now,” –she cleared her throat— “this bit isn’t all that fun, but don’t worry, it’s over quickly.”  
  
“Sorry?” said Teddy.  
  
“Those vines on the shop,” said Kaylee, pointing to several long, light brown tendrils that curled up and down the stone walls of the shop like ivy. “They’re a very mild strain of Devil’s Snare that have been enchanted by herbalists. They just have to make sure we haven’t brought anything illicit with us.”  
  
She had barely replaced her hand by her side when the tendrils shot away from the walls and into the pockets of Teddy’s jeans, his jacket, his pocketbook, and the roots of his hair. It was very uncomfortable. He looked over at Kaylee, who was enduring the same thing, but kept smiling at the look on his face.  
  
“We’re all clear,” said Kaylee as the Devil’s Snare curled back towards the wall, once again looking as innocent as a grapevine. “Come on—into the shop!”  
  
She swung open the dirty, rattling door, and Teddy followed behind her. Seconds later, the cold winds of Azkaban were whipping across his face, and he was gazing out at the stone fortress and the Aurors enlisted to guard it. He and Kaylee moved up the rocky path, the dark ocean roaring around them. Teddy couldn’t help feeling a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold, despite the absence of the Dementors that had guarded the place until the year after Teddy was born.  
  
Thankfully, the Auror who met them was nobody Teddy knew. Kaylee presented her with Harry’s clearance, and she examined their wands for several minutes before letting them pass. Teddy thought it was likely she had read the Rita Skeeter article, from the way her eyes lingered on him as the entered the building, but he gritted his teeth and pretended he hadn’t noticed anything.  
  
They emerged into what could only generously be called a lobby—a round, windowless gray room containing two uncomfortable-looking sofas and a receptionist’s desk. The air inside was dank and horrible, and the full moon, rising in only a few hours, sent the stench into Teddy’s very bones. He screwed up his face in an effort not to gag.  
  
“Are you really okay?” said Kaylee, giving him an odd look.  
  
He nodded, waiting for the spell to pass. In that time, one of the doors behind them opened, and another Auror emerged, leading a magically-cuffed woman by the shoulder. She looked strangely familiar to Teddy: he was sure he had seen her somewhere before. She had very tightly curled hair that was a mixture of brown and faded grey; bulging, amphibious eyes; and was wearing the standard black Azkaban uniform knotted in a bow at her hip. She cleared her throat in a way that Teddy found distinctly disturbing.  
  
“Oh,” said the Auror, looking him and Kaylee over, scrunching his eyebrows slightly. “Are you Dolores’ visitors?”


	12. False Fangs

“Dolores?” Teddy managed to sputter out, as she bustled them and the cuffed woman through the prison. The name rang faint bells in his head. He was almost sure Harry had mentioned it a few times when he was younger.  
  
“Well, here you are,” said the Auror, unlocking the door. “I’m off my shift now, so just give a holler when you’re finished interviewing her and someone will come and let you out.”

She practically pushed the two of them inside before slamming the door shut again and trotting quickly away. Teddy watched as the outline of the door slowly faded away, a seamless wall taking its place and towering over them. Kaylee and Teddy glanced at each other, looking around what seemed to be an empty cell.  
  
“Hem, _hem_.” 

Both of them jumped, and Teddy suddenly remembered the woman they were supposedly interviewing— _Dolores_ , he told himself. She was sitting on an uncomfortable-looking metal chair, looking up at them with a strangely triumphant (though still toad-like) expression.  
  
“Well, I must say, I thought Rita herself would be interviewing me, but I know she’s a busy woman. Such a pity she couldn’t make it. Rita must make a lovely boss.”  
  
It did not matter that Teddy could not remember the exact details of Dolores’ imprisonment. Anyone who put Skeeter’s name in the same sentence as the word ‘lovely’ could not be a decent human being.  


“Look, we’re not—” Teddy started, but Dolores cut him off.  
  
“Now, where should we start?” She sat up with perfect posture and smiled horribly. “Rita said she wanted the whole story in her letter. So I believe that Potter’s constant disregard for my authority at Hogwarts, and his blatant bias against me during my trial, would make the best places to start, yes?”  
  
Teddy felt anger bubbling up inside him, and didn’t even bother trying control his hair changing colors. This day was quickly shaping up to be the worst full moon Teddy had experienced in years. Kaylee nudged him with her elbow as Dolores stared at him, wide-eyed.  
  
_“Yes?”_ he snarled at her. She quickly looked away, her eyes now fixed on anywhere but on him. It took extreme effort not to roll his eyes. Metamorphmagi might not have the most common magical abilities in the world, but they were well represented throughout the ages. Well enough to not be stared at all the time.  
  
“Ms. Umbridge,” said Kaylee, who had apparently known what “Dolores” meant from the beginning. “I apologize, but I’m afraid we actually came to see a different prisoner. I’m Kaylee Stout of the Muggle Liaison Office, and this is Teddy Lupin of the Auror Department. They must have mixed up the request forms.”  
  
Umbridge—a name Teddy knew very well indeed—glanced back at him one last time, her face now very white. Then she broke away, rushing over to the window, rattling the bars, and screaming, _“Help!_ There’s a werewolf in my cell! It’s a full moon! _Help!”_  
  
“Oh shut up, you old toad,” Teddy said, and tugged Umbridge away, who flinched violently at his touch. He thought quickly. No matter what the Auror had said, Teddy didn’t really fancy shouting for someone to let them out—but he thought he knew the right spell. With a flick of his wand, he opened the door and let Kaylee leave first. He turned back to Umbridge and glowered at her, happy that he was over a full foot taller.  
  
“First of all, I’m not even a werewolf. Second, even if I was, it’s not even three. The sun is still shining.”  
  
Umbridge didn’t seem to care. She took a deep breath and pointed her stubby finger at him. “You are just as bad as Potter,” she said, her voice still quavering. _“No_ understanding of the real situation. Full of lies, always downplaying the truth just so you can have your way!”  
  
Teddy morphed his eyes to yellow, and concentrated on extending his nose and mouth into a long gray snout. Umbridge jumped away from him and cowered behind her chair. 

Teddy laughed and left the cell, swiftly resealing the door behind him. Kaylee raised an eyebrow at him as they began walking down the corridor, hoping to find the proper prisoner this time.  
  
“Overkill, much?” she asked.  
  
Teddy shrugged, glancing at the outwardly-transparent wall of each cell, trying to spot the vampiric Curse Breaker. “I’m having a bad day.” Thankfully, Kaylee merely nodded and dropped the subject. 

Teddy did not like the feeling of Azkaban. He’d never experienced the presence of a Dementor, but he’d heard the stories. Now, though they had long been banished from the place, he could not imagine this prison being more unpleasant than it already was.  
  
Kaylee stopped as their corridor combined with another, and put a hand on his shoulder. “You all right? You’re terribly pale.”  
  
Even more so than usual for the full moon, Teddy felt as if every sense was heightened beyond imagining. The hall seemed narrow and long, and his hands were clammy. “I’m not overly fond of enclosed spaces,” he said, following her lead.  
  
Kaylee nodded. “Claustrophobic? Yeah, I’d bet a place like this would trigger that.”  
  
Teddy nodded, but he knew it was not small spaces that bothered him. It was the idea of being caged that sent shivers down his spine. He was far too aware that people like his father—like Ravi—too often ended up in places like this, in circumstances beyond their control.  
  
“Teddy?” 

Both of them froze in mid-step, Kaylee wobbling slightly. Teddy looked into the cell they had just passed. The sight he saw inside enraged him. 

Ravi sat cowering in the back corner of her empty cell, doing everything she could to keep her feet from crossing the line of sunlight that was bursting through the window. It would be impossible for her to come over to the cell door and talk to them without risking her life. Even before opening the door, Teddy cast a charm, blocking the light from the window. Her cell was plunged into darkness.  
  
Teddy opened the door and helped Ravi to her feet. Her skin was warmer than he had expected, and it seemed she was close to tears of relief.  
  
“What are you doing here?” she asked, in a quiet, shaking voice. She stretched, doing her best to shake away the nerves. Teddy wondered how long she had needed to crouch in that corner to avoid a very painful death.  
  
“I need to see your teeth,” he said apologetically.  
  
_“Pardon?”_

Both Kaylee and Ravi looked at him with confusion and concern. Teddy shook his head and dug in his pockets until he found the small, fake, pointed teeth he had discovered at George’s shop. He held them out to Ravi, who took them with a look of amazement. She held them close to her eyes and stared at them, apparently not needing any more light than Teddy did.  
  
“These are remarkable. Even some vampires would be fooled by them. The material is dead on—but they are just a tad bit too long,” Ravi said, and let them fall back into Teddy’s palm.  
  
“Would they leave a different mark on a body?”  
  
Ravi nodded. “Our teeth are meant to be able to tap into the jugular, but not pierce all the way through. It would be a waste of blood if the host started bleeding internally.”  
  
Kaylee stepped forward, but kept glancing at the teeth with discomfort. "So… you’re telling me that if a human used these to frame a vampire, they would pierce all the way through the vein? That’s something we can check, right?"   
  
Teddy nodded and pocketed the teeth. Then he asked the question he was fairly sure he already knew the answer to. 

“Ravi, who convinced you to go back to your house?    
  
She was quiet for a moment—not because she did not know the answer, but, Teddy thought, because she did not want to say it.

“Erebus did."    
  
Teddy nodded and did his best to give her a reassuring smile. He could tell it didn’t work. As he and Kaylee began to leave the dark cell, Ravi ran forward and grabbed Teddy’s arm. Out of habit, he drew his wand. She glanced at it, going even paler than usual, before quickly letting go.   
  
"You don't  _ understand, _ though,” she said. She was still staring at him, despite her ashen face, despite her terror, and Teddy realized she was almost crying. “He couldn't  _ do _ this. He knows what—what it’s like for people like us. He's no more accepted in the Wizarding world than vampires or werewolves.  _ Why _ would he frame me for murder when he's been my best friend?"    
  
Teddy had no words of comfort to offer. Just a simple question to ask.

"Why does he understand so well?” he said quietly. “Is he a Dark creature, too?"   
  
Ravi shook her head. "No. He's a Squib."    
  
Teddy ran from the cell room, Kaylee following close behind him. He ignored the indignant cries from the guards as he wiped through the mazelike corridors of Azkaban, back out to the entrance and onto the magical boat. The boat ride itself seemed to take three times as long as it had on the way to the prison. By the time they reached a shore where he would be able to Apparate, Teddy felt like hours had passed.    
  
“Thank you, Kaylee, for everything you’ve done, for helping me.”   
  
“But let me guess,” she interrupted. “You need to go and do the rest of this alone, yeah?”    
  
Teddy nodded ruefully, but Kaylee didn’t argue this time. She tossed him Whistler’s compact and Disapparated with a wink. Teddy quickly followed suit, Disapparating to the atrium of the Ministry. Joining the crowd of wizards making their way to and from the lifts, Teddy made himself look as inconspicuous as possible, a rather difficult thing for someone who was always aware of how they looked. Then he allowed the flow of people to push him into a lift. Harry had suspended him, not banned him from the office, but Teddy still had a feeling that his continued investigation was not going to be received well by anyone else.  
  
Still, Teddy didn’t realize the flaw in his plan until he was standing outside the doors to the Auror office. Like every other day at the Ministry, he would now have to present his wand to Gladys, and no matter what disguise he wore, walking through the waterfall would cause problems. While he thought he might be able to force his way through, Teddy was fairly sure that would mean the end of his career as an Auror. It didn’t matter in the end. He was not going to let Ravi burn away in a cell for something she didn’t do.    
  
He opened the door and was surprised to see Morris on the other side, leaning up against Gladys’ unusually empty desk. His arms were crossed and eyebrows furrowed.  His head jerked up when Teddy entered.   
  
“Lupin, you just might be the most troublesome Auror I’ve ever seen,” he said quietly.    
  
There was a prolonged silence as Teddy tried and failed to think of something to say. Morris waited for a while, but ultimately seemed to decide that the conversation was over before it had really begun. He stood, waving Teddy through the waterfall. 

“Come on,” he said. “Harry needs to talk with you.”   
  
Teddy stepped through the waterfall and followed Morris silently, passing the many cubicles where Aurors sat working. More than one of them poked their heads above the screens to watch as he was escorted up the stairs to Harry’s office. Teddy briefly caught Whistler’s eye before she looked away. Even with the Silencing Charms Teddy knew were placed around the Head Auror’s office, he thought he could hear raised voices coming from inside.   
  
He was right. When Morris opened the door, a gruff voice that was growing more and more familiar could be heard shouting as if its owner’s life depended on it. “You let your godson wander around a prison!” Bates cried. “When he was suspended! You _flaunt_ the laws you’ve broken, Potter! This is one step too far!”   
  
Bates paused only momentarily as Teddy and Morris entered, and then jabbed an eager, stubby finger at Teddy. “That—boy of yours terrified a witch into thinking he was going to be attacked by a vicious creature! I don’t care how much you favor him—he has proven time and time again that he cannot be unbiased! He breaks regulation after regulation and coerces others to help him! I demand his immediate removal from the Auror department at the _very least!”_   
  
“Me?” he said, making every effort he could not to shout, too. _“I’m_ the biased one? You threw Ravi in Azkaban for nothing more than being a vampire. They put her in a cell drenched in sunlight for the most of the day.”  
  
Teddy’s eyes flickered over to Harry’s. He wanted to know if Harry had been aware of Ravi’s cell conditions or not, but his godfather did not reveal anything to him. Teddy jammed his hand into his pocket, pulled out the fake teeth, and held them under Bates’ nose.  
  
“See these?” he demanded. “These are the murder weapons. You didn’t even bother to order more testing done after the puncture wounds were found, did you? I’ll bet my job that they prove to be too deep for a real vampire to have made them.”  
  
Everyone in the room stared at the teeth for a silent moment before Bates laughed loudly. He patted his stomach as if it were an innocent joke. Harry, however, picked up a tooth and examined it closely.  
  
“That’s the proof you’re risking everything on, Lupin?” Bates said, still laughing from what he thought was his victory. “Maybe you’re right, and a pair of teeth like those found their way into the victim. But who’s to say your vampire didn’t use them to cover her tracks?”  
  
Before Teddy could retort, Harry spoke for the first time. “Why would a vampire use fake teeth, though?” he said. “That doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t have been able to feed.”  
  
“And if she _had_ done it,” said Teddy loudly, “why would she go back to the crime scene? We had no idea where she was before then! If she was guilty, then she was in the clear as long as nobody found her—there’d be no reason for her to come back!”  
  
“Then the two of you are working together!” Bates said angrily. “A vampire and a werewolf! Not that surprising, really, is it?”  
  
“What?” said Teddy, staring at him. “Look, I’m _not—”_  
  
But Morris beat him to the punch. In two large steps, he had closed the space between him and Bates, so that their noses were less than an inch from each other. His wand pressed into Bates’ skin.  
  
“You ever insult one of my people like that again, and you might just disappear one day,” he hissed.  
  
“Morris,” Harry said warningly, pushing him away from Bates—who was, infuriatingly, still smirking.  
  
“So quick to defend your pet, I see.”  
  
“I don’t give a damn if he _is_ a werewolf. Call him a traitor again, though, and let’s see what happens.”  
  
Bates looked as if he was going to retaliate, but one look from Harry silenced him. Teddy was used to a rather mild-mannered Harry, but he had on occasion seen his godfather act much more serious, like he was now. Even people who didn’t like Harry usually stepped back when he got like that, and it seemed Bates was no different.  
  
“Bates, your concerns about this matter have been noted,” said Harry. “However, the pressing matter at hand is the fact that we have new evidence, whether or not Teddy was suspended at the time. We must now see where his theory leads to.”  
  
Bates glared at Harry, but said nothing more. He nodded curtly and picked up his cloak from the back of a chair. Before he could escape through the door however Harry spoke again.  
  
“If I ever find proof that you purposefully put Ravi’s life in danger in Azkaban, rest assured that you will be dismissed from the Wizengamot.”  
  
Bates did not turn around or acknowledge that he had heard Harry’s words in any way. He simply paused for a moment before putting on his hat and continuing down the stairs. Harry had already resumed his study of the tooth, seemingly unbothered by the entire ordeal. 

Teddy was certain that he was right about the false teeth. He was even sure about Erebus being the real killer—and that something about his Squib status was relevant—but he had no way to prove it.  
  
“How did you know Ravi and I were back at her house?” he asked the room at large.  
  
“Bates sent a memo,” said Morris. “It said that an owl had arrived at his office, tipping him off that someone was at the crime scene.”  
  
“And how did Bates know?”  
  
“He has a habit of hanging around the Hit Wizard Department,” said Morris dryly. “Got the message first and then sent it our way.”  
  
“Well, who sent the owl in the first place? I mean, it was after dawn. Why would someone be watching the house at nearly four in the morning?”   
  
“Got a theory?” Morris asked.   
  
Teddy nodded quickly. “Ravi said it was Erebus who told her to go back to the house, to try and find something to clear her name. He also bought a pair of these on the day of the murder.” 

He gestured to the teeth that Harry was now holding up to the light. For the first time that afternoon, Harry smiled.


	13. A Tremendous Toll

With Harry’s blessing, Teddy Apparated back to the street where the murder occurred. They still didn’t have the proof they needed to arrest Erebus, but nobody could complain about bringing him back to the Ministry to answer a few questions.

 

The cobblestone street was slippery from the ever-predictable October rainfall. Twilight had given way to the night hours of the city, and the full moon hung heavy and white in the cloudy sky. To Teddy, it felt like the same sort of quiet that descended upon Hogwarts common rooms just before exams. The air felt heavy and even the smallest of noises felt too loud for his ears. Though Harry had cleared Teddy to escort Erebus to the Ministry, Teddy knew he was on thin ice, as he was still technically suspended.

 

Harry had needed to defend Teddy's rash actions too many times already for this case. If Teddy did anything else that was questionable, it would not be only his neck on the line. Bates would make sure Harry was kicked out of the office—if not the entire Ministry. And Kingsley was powerful and well-liked as Minister, but he'd been in office nineteen years now, and he'd made it clear that no matter how good his ratings were, he was not going to stay past twenty.

 

All of Teddy's thoughts seemed to jam up against one another, making it difficult to really think. He needed to _focus_ , try and develop a line of questioning—Morris had hinted that he was going to have Teddy take the lead this time. Admittedly, most of the detective work on this case had been accomplished by him and Kaylee. Teddy yawned as he climbed the steps up to the Rabnott house and knocked on the front door. There was a rustle on the upper floor, and Teddy looked up to see curtains fluttering, as if someone had been looking through them seconds before. Then Liana Rabnott came clambering through the hall to the door.

 

"Mr. Lupin," Liana said, squinting at him through a pair of reading glasses. "We are all happy to help you in your investigation, but this is awfully late to be dropping by."

 

Teddy forced himself to smile and respond in a kind voice. "Sorry, Liana, but I’m afraid I’m going to need to speak with Erebus."

 

Her face visibly paled; Teddy thought she looked like a corpse in the dull light. He watched as her eyes shifted from his face down towards his left hand. He had not realized he was toying with the tip of his wand.

 

“Erebus?” she said. “Why? He didn't see anything—he wasn't even home that night."

 

Teddy looked past the short woman and into the house, where he could see the other faces of the Rabnott family poking their heads out from various doorways. Teddy had hoped to do this a bit more privately. No matter what he thought about Erebus’s innocence, it wasn’t as if he wanted to arrest him front of his entire family.

 

"I'm afraid last time I was here, I was—er, a bit frazzled. I missed some details that he had told me. Just need to clear a few things up, is all." He was sure that his voice sounded as falsely sweet as Umbridge’s. The fake tone left a sour feeling in his mouth. It wasn’t Liana’s fault that her brother was about to be in a lot of trouble. She looked back at him, silently asking him to leave, but Teddy did not relent or break eye contact.

 

"Oh, all right, come in, but please make it quick. I was just about to pop off to bed." Liana stepped aside to allow him entrance into her home. As if planned, all the heads that had been poking out the doors disappeared back into the rooms off to the side. Liana led Teddy to the kitchen and poured him a cup of tea before standing at the bottom of the stairs.

 

"Erebus,” she called softly, “the Aurors are back. They have some more questions for you." She turned back to Teddy and smiled. “He should be down in a moment.”

 

 True to her word, Teddy had barely had time to add cream to his tea before he heard a thunder of footsteps coming downstairs. He watched as Erebus bounced his way down the steep stairs, tying his shoes as he went. He tripped over the last step and nearly crashed into his sister. Teddy squinted at him; he suddenly realized Erebus could only be a couple years older than Teddy himself.

 

"Be careful," Liana chided.

 

Erebus gave his older sister a reproachful look. "You're a witch,” he said. “If I break my arm, you can just mend it."

 

“Well, you can’t,” said Liana. “Despite what you think, magic doesn't solve every problem. I'd rather not have to try and mend your skull before I turn in for the night.”

 

Erebus smiled pleasantly enough at Liana as she left the kitchen, but it vanished the moment she turned away. He turned to face Teddy, his expression static. Teddy set down his cup of tea. Neither of them sat.

 

"I'm afraid I’ll need you to come with me to the Ministry," said Teddy.

 

"I'm a Squib, remember?” said Erebus, making a noise that sounded like he was attempting a laugh, but it came out as more of a choking sound. “I’m not a part of your world. Wouldn't one of my siblings be more help? It's not like I can identify spells for you or anything."

 

Teddy shook his head and tried to ignore the way Erebus seemed to keep glancing at the kitchen door. They looked at each other, and Teddy knew in an instant that his hunch was correct. He was on the verge of saying “don’t”—and then Erebus leapt onto the kitchen table and slid across to the other side of the room, throwing the kitchen door open and sprinting outside.

 

Teddy launched himself after Erebus. There _were_ advantages, he thought, to tracking down suspects during the full moon: he had never been faster, despite the fact that he had also never been more uncomfortable. Still, by the time he got around all of the kitchen chairs, Erebus had jumped over the back gate and raced down the street. Now fully awake, Teddy chased after him, shouting for Erebus to stop. He had drawn his wand, but he was afraid to attack what appeared to be an unarmed civilian, certain that doing so would only complicate everything. A biker appeared out of nowhere, causing Teddy to trip on the uneven cobblestones and crash into a parked car on the side of the row.

 

The car alarm blared in his ears, giving Teddy an instant migraine as he peeled himself away from the vehicle, looking up just in time to see Erebus dart into a small alley up ahead. Ignoring the pain in his side where the side mirror had impaled him, Teddy forced himself to keep running, plunging himself into the dark alley. He could barely see Erebus ahead of him, but it was time for this to end. He threw caution to the wind and pointed his wand. He’d have only one shot—Erebus was far too fast, and had the added advantage of being in a familiar location.

 

Teddy took careful aim, trying not to imagine the nightmare of using magic in a muggle area of london, and shouted _"Stupefy!"_

 

The red beam of light collided with Erebus; it looked for a second as though he had tripped before falling to the ground. Teddy raced forward, hoping to catch him before his head hit the hard ground. Then he froze, blinded by white light. A horn blared so loudly that it made Teddy feel queasy… but not even the horn could drown out the sound of screeching brakes and something slamming into the front of a car.

 

The lights did not dim, but Teddy forced himself to open his eyes. A black taxi cab had stopped in the small street, the driver already outside of the car, his hand clasped over his mouth. Teddy couldn't take his eyes off of Erebus’s shoes, which were no longer on his feet. The white laces were spotted with fresh blood. His body was contorted in angles that did not make sense. Unable to look at Erebus any longer, Teddy stared at his wand. He had the sudden urge to break it in half and toss it in the closest bin he could find.

 

He could hear sirens in the distance and knew he needed to act quickly. Retreating back into the alley, Teddy pulled his compact from his cloak and tried to say his godfather’s name. His mouth was so dry it took three attempts before anything recognizable came out of his mouth. Not even ten seconds later, Harry's face appeared in the small mirror.

 

"Teddy, we've been wai—what's wrong?"

 

Teddy shook his head, not able to put what had just happened into words. The next thing Teddy knew, there was a loud _CRACK_ and Harry was standing next to him. He gently took the compact out of Teddy's hands and shut it. Teddy did not want to meet Harry's eyes. Harry squeezed his shoulder, and he was sure he didn’t even deserve that.

 

By the time Teddy did finally look up, Harry was in the street, kneeling over Erebus’ body. With a flick of the Auror badge Kaylee had given them, the Muggle police backed off, working to prevent the growing crowd of Muggles from getting a closer look. Teddy lost all understanding of time as the rest of his team arrived and set to work. Kaylee appeared, looking much more subdued that Teddy had ever seen her, and coordinated with the muggles. Whistler did her best to prevent Erebus’ siblings and sister-in-law from seeing the body. Peter covered it with a conjured white sheet.

 

It was not until the crowd dispersed, and the night grew into the early hours of the morning, that Harry returned to Teddy, who had not left the alley once. As Teddy looked past his godfather’s shoulder he saw Peter disappear into thin air with the body. He did not feel a sick as he had before, but he still found it hard to look Harry in the eye. Instead he sat, leaning against the stone wall, his head hanging. He heard Harry come over. The alley was dark enough that Teddy doubted anyone would notice the two of them unless they were mere feet away.

 

"We released Ravi. No charges were pressed. Whistler found some disturbing plans in Erebus’ room. Apparently he was becoming very anti-magic."

 

“Great,” said Teddy. “So I killed a murderer.”

 

"It wasn't your fault."

 

Teddy laughed humorously. He did not think it sounded like his own voice. "I Stunned him,” he said. “He didn't have a wand—it wasn't like he was firing spells at me. I Stunned him and because of that he's dead. Seems pretty obvious whose fault it is to me."

 

Harry sighed and took off his glasses. It was always strange to see his godfather without them. Teddy realized how much older he looked without them on. The lighting scar seemed to stand out all the more, despite the dark setting.

 

"Look, Ted,” said Harry. “Remember when I sat you down before your first trip to Hogwarts, and told you everything—every detail—about the war?"

 

Teddy nodded.

 

"After that day, after I told you everything, about your dad and mum… I couldn’t stop thinking about how they had died in a battle that had only started because I was running around Hogwarts looking for that last Horcrux."

 

"I said it wasn't your fault. That I didn't blame you for their deaths. But you said it didn’t matter what people told you. It didn't change how you felt."

 

Teddy knew that Harry still felt responsible for their deaths. He probably always would.

 

Harry nodded and put an arm around Teddy. "Exactly. But like I said, Teddy, it's not your fault."

 

Teddy smiled ruefully and rested his head on his godfather’s shoulder.

 


	14. The Contaminated Colt at the Castle

Teddy waited anxiously at the gates of Hogwarts, ignoring Filch’s glare through the wrought-iron entrance. When he had made his way there after Apparating into Hogsmeade, the caretaker had been very upset, insisting that he wasn’t allowed to stand at the gates. The man even threatened detention before remembering that, while Teddy was wearing his Hufflepuff scarf, he was not, in fact, a student. So, given the fact that Teddy wasn’t technically on Hogwarts grounds, and that there was nothing else he could do, Filch glared. Though Teddy had been out of school for two years, he still found it discomfiting, and took to trying to make shapes out of the clouds in the sky.

Several days ago, Harry had asked, and then insisted, that Teddy take a long weekend to see Victoire on her first Hogsmeade visit of the year before the Auror lectures the following week. Their last case was barely closed, and though internal affairs had cleared Teddy of any wrongdoing, he still felt the eyes everyone in the office on him whenever his back was turned. At the sound of crunching snow, Teddy turned to find that Filch’s glare had shifted to the students heading towards the gate.

Grudgingly, Filch opened the gates to allow the students passage. Most of them looked at Teddy curiously, though some of the older ones waved as they passed, recognizing him from when he was Head Boy. He waved back, but his eyes searched much farther up the approaching mass of black cloaks, waiting for Victoire’s silvery blonde hair to come into view.

“Teddy!” someone said, and he refocused his attention back to the students at the gate, where two third years were grinning up at him.

“What are you doing here?” James asked.

Teddy smiled for what felt like the first time in weeks as he looked into the mischievous faces of James and Fred. The two of them were only in their third year, but they already seemed close to surpassing both the Marauders and the Weasley twins, if the stories were to be believed.

“Want to come down to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer?” Fred asked.

Teddy shook his head as he finally spotted Victoire coming down the path. “Nah,” he said. “You two enjoy your… er, ‘first’ time in Hogsmeade.”

Fred looked sheepish, but James winked at Teddy before they continued down the path towards the village. With a flick of his wand, Teddy sent snowballs flying after them, and felt a tinge of satisfaction as they hit the back of their heads. Fred and James shouted back at him, grinning, but continued on their way.

Then Victoire was there. A warm sensation spread throughout Teddy’s body as she kissed him lightly on the cheek. Her smile seemed to force the sun to shine through the dark clouds inside him as she slipped her hand into his.

“You are a bad influence on them,” she said, as they slowly made their way towards the village. She nuzzled his shoulder, hiding from the cold wind. He played with the edges of her fingerless gloves, loving how small they made her fingers seem. They allowed the eager students rush past until they were left alone, with only a few stragglers making their way down the hill. Even though it had only been a couple of months, and even though they had written nearly every day, Teddy felt as if a whole lifetime had happened since he last saw Victoire.

He tried his best to push those thoughts away as he kissed her hair. For now, he wanted to enjoy the limited time he had with her, not worry about everything spiraling out of control. Without consciously choosing a location, the two of them wandered away from the village and over to the Shrieking Shack. Even decades after his father had used the shack for his transformations, witches and wizards tended to avoid the crumbling building. Teddy did not mind; it was only because of the legends that they could count on privacy whenever they approached the house.

“You’re quiet today,” Victoire said, after they jumped the fence. Teddy helped her down the slippery hill, shrugging in answer to her question.

“Just work stuff,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “Things got… complicated on my last case.”

She nodded, but thankfully did not press the subject further. The Case of the Mutilated Muggle, after all, had been a very public affair. Teddy was surprised that the more graphic details of its ending had not made it into the papers. He’d overheard a conversation with Harry and Hermione about keeping Skeeter quiet about it, but he had not expected their plan to actually work.

“How are Al and Rose settling in?” Teddy asked, keen to shift the conversation. To his surprise, Victoire sighed.

“Rose is great, overall—perfectly at home with the Gryffindors. But Albus? Well… first off, don’t call him Al. Apparently he’s ‘off’ that nickname.”

They sat down on their usual rock next to the Shack, at the opposite end of the house from the Hogsmeade path. It had quickly become ‘their’ spot after Teddy and Victoire began dating. No one had ever discovered them once they’d snuck to the other side.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if he actually tried, I think,” Victoire continued. “None of us really care what house he’s in, except maybe Rose, but he won’t talk to  _ any _ of us unless it’s forced upon him.”

“Well,” said Teddy thoughtfully, “can you blame him for wanting to distance himself from the Potter-Weasley Hogwarts takeover?”

Victoire looked at him, her hair slipping silkily behind her shoulder. She wasn’t glaring, not like Filch, but there was something icy in her eyes. “Meaning what, exactly?"

Teddy stared at her, his mind failing to come up with the words for what he’d been trying to say. "I just meant… well, he's a Slytherin now. But still a Potter." 

He could see the Weasley anger in her bubbling into the surface. "You’d think he wasn’t anymore—the way he acts,” she said sharply. “He's not even  _ talking _ to Rose anymore. He's like… the opposite of Harry’s godfather—Sirius Black, wasn’t it? But instead of being a Black in Gryffindor, he's a Potter in Slytherin. Wants nothing to do with the rest of us." 

Teddy wanted to groan, but he stopped himself before Victoire could notice. This was the first time in months he’d seen her; he didn't want to fight when he didn’t know how long it would be before the next time. 

 

“Look,” he said. “I'm not trying to take sides—or anything, really. I'll talk to him while I'm here. See if I can figure out what's going on with him, all right?" 

He stared into Victoire’s silvery eyes, purposefully changing his irises all sorts of different colors until she could not help but laugh. To his surprise, she snorted; then, before he had time to make fun of her, she pushed him into the snow. Unwilling to lose at this game, Teddy grabbed her arm as he slid off the rock, so that she plummeted into the powder with him. Both of them laughed until their chests hurt. 

He knew it was the Veela in her, but he couldn't help the rapid heartbeat in his chest when she giggled as he tickled her ear with his breath. They kissed with the freedom of knowing that, for once, no one was about to walk in on them. It could have been days before she pulled away, her long hair shielding the two of them from the rest of the world. Lying on his chest, Victoire played with Teddy’s hair, neither of them bothered by the snow seeping in through their cloaks. 

Despite his best efforts, though, Teddy could feel the smile fading from his face as the sound of a screeching car drifted back into his mind. 

“So,” said Victoire, the smile ebbing from her face, too. She laid her head on his chest. “When are you going to tell me what's got your hair all brown?”

Teddy sighed. He’d known, though he hadn’t wanted to admit it, that she would see through his fake cheer. So he filled her in on the events of his past case, and she listened. When he finished, she didn't say anything; didn't reprimand him for lying to Harry, or for skirting around the laws. Instead she sighed, smiling ever so slightly at him before kissing his forehead.  They lay there in silence until Teddy could no longer feel his backside or legs. While telling her the truth had not washed away any of his guilt, it did help, at least, to know that she didn't hate him for it. 

They brushed the snow off each other and dried their clothes before heading back up to the village, hand in hand. Teddy would be staying at the castle tonight, giving a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson to the first years. The Defense Against the Arts teachers apparently always wanted Aurors to come in and talk to their classes, but Harry had been the first to accept, and now it was a tradition. The first years, fifth years, and NEWT students now got yearly visits from Aurors. Harry usually took the NEWT classes, but other Aurors were always welcome to come and help. As a student, Teddy had always looked forward to the Auror lectures, which seemed to symbolize what every young witch and wizard found cool. 

Neither he nor Victoire realized how long they’d spent by the Shrieking Shack until they reached the clock in the center of town, and discovered they only had time for a quick drink at the Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta eyed them suspiciously when they each ordered a hot chocolate with a shot of Firewhiskey in it, but did not question their age. They sat at the bar as the day began to give way to the dark. 

The trip back to the castle seemed to take twice as long as the way there; the uphill trek, mounting snow, and Firewhiskey did nothing to increase their speed. In the end, Victoire’s was the last name to be scratched off Filch’s list. They ran into the castle, sure that if Filch made it there before them, she’d end up in detention, Prefect or not. Once inside, they were able to slow back to a stroll. Most of the students were already back in their common rooms, but they still had time before curfew. 

Teddy missed their days of sneaking around the corridors after hours to see one another. Teddy’s seventh year had been the easiest, with him as Head Boy and Victoire a Prefect, but they still managed to get into trouble more than once. Victiore grinned at him, and Teddy got the impression that she was remembering the same things he was. She grabbed his hand and darted behind a tapestry, into a shortcut where they had once spent many patrols. 

All thoughts of reliving some of those memories vanished as they turned and ran straight into Professor McGonagall. It didn’t matter that Teddy had been out of school for two years; the disapproval on McGonagall’s face never failed to make him want to run in the other direction. Logically, he knew she could not punish him, but her piercing gaze was enough to terrify even the bravest of wizards.

"Mr. Lupin,” she said. “Miss Weasley. I know it’s been a long day, but  _ really _ . You both should know better than to be wandering around the corridors.” The interesting thing was that, although she sounded stern, Teddy thought he caught the ghost of a smile playing around her lips.

"In addition,” McGonagall continued, “I believe you are nearly twenty minutes past curfew, Miss Weasley. I suggest you make your way back to Gryffindor Tower now." 

Victiore nodded, pausing for a moment before apparently deciding she didn't want to kiss Teddy in front of the Headmistress, and then she left the shortcut. Teddy watched her leave, feeling the happiness he had so recently acquired disappear with her. He turned his attention back to Professor McGonagall and nearly jumped at the sudden change in her expression. Any amusement in her eyes had vanished, replaced by a such a serious look that Teddy knew instantly that something horrible had happened. 

"Mr. Lupin,” she said. “I'm afraid that I will now require more than just your lecturing abilities. I don’t know if anyone has told you yet… but a body has been found in the Forbidden Forest." 

Without a word Teddy stepped aside, allowing her to lead him back through the castle corridors and onto the grounds of Hogwarts. With a twitch of her wand, McGonagall created a path through the snow towards Hagrid’s hut. Despite her age, she moved with all the grace and speed of a witch in her prime. Teddy had always known of her tenacity, but tonight she seemed to move with a barely contained rage. 

Looking ahead, Teddy noticed a small circle of light at the edge of the forest. As they approached, Teddy also spotted Hagrid, looming over everything else, his beard beginning to grey. Then he recognized Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor House, standing to the right of two boys. One had tightly-curled, reddish brown hair, the obvious product of a Weasley union; the other was black-haired and wearing glasses like his father. As they entered a narrow clearing, all four figures looked up at Teddy. 

James and Fred were both very pale. Fred looked as if he might faint, his legs wobbly, but James stood firm, supporting his best friend with a hand on his shoulder. Teddy also didn’t miss the lump beneath James’ shirt—his father’s invisibility cloak, he was sure. Teddy then forced himself to look at the center of the small circle, even though he had no interest in seeing another body. 

Though Teddy felt an initial surge of relief that the body wasn’t a Hogwarts student or professor, he was soon overcome by horror—it was the body of a centaur colt. He had been only a boy, a child who could not have even hit puberty yet. Now he was lying inert on the ground of his forest home. 

While the sight of the last body Teddy had seen had made him consider leaving the Auror Department, the scene in front of him now pushed away any thought of quitting. There was no way he was ever going to let whatever sick monster who was responsible for this get away with it. 

 


	15. Fatal Fumes

Teddy stared at the body in front of him. Despite the fact that the colt was unnaturally still, he looked as if he could be sleeping: he was remarkably untouched. There was no sign of an attack, or even a struggle—although, kneeling down next to the boy, Teddy noticed a slight discoloration of his mouth.

He looked around the immediate area for something of a similar color. This was, after all, the Forbidden Forest. Whether or not it was the centaurs’ home, it was still a dangerous place.

Still, Teddy couldn’t help wondering how such a young foul could get separated from the herd. He looked as deep into the forest as his eyes would allow, surprised that he did not spot movement in the trees. Then he glanced over at Professor McGonagall, a slow realization coming over him.

“The centaurs don’t know about this, do they?” he said.

Knowing how fierce the headmistress usually was, Teddy was surprised to see her fidget uncomfortably. She shook her head.

“They do not appreciate Hogwarts students or staff in their forest. We wanted to be sure of what happened before we inform the herd.”

Teddy nodded and caught James’ eye; James looked sheepishly down. The moment Harry gave James the cloak, everyone had known he would put it to mischievous use. It did not surprise Teddy that James might try to sneak out of the castle and into the grounds, but to enter the forest in the middle of a winter night seemed reckless, even for him.

Teddy turned his attention back to the body. The position of the colt’s arms seemed off. If the boy had fallen, they should have been out front, trying to brace himself for the impact. Instead, his hands were curled upwards, close to his face.

“It looks like he might have eaten some poisonous fruit or berries,” said Teddy, looking at Neville. “Is there anything like that in the forest?”

The Herbology professor kneeled down next to the centaur and looked closely at the discoloration of his mouth. He sighed.

“It’s the Forbidden Forest. Of course there are poisonous things in there. But any centaur would know that. Their parents teach them from birth what not to touch or eat.”

Teddy wondered if the boy might have choked to death on a late-night snack, but the idea didn’t sit right with him. He decided to see if he could find whatever it was the boy had been eating. None of the bushes around them produced any kind of berry or fruit. All of the fauna was typical of what one would expect to find in northern Scotland.

Teddy walked further into the forest, lighting his wand, trying to find the colt’s tracks in the snow. The shadows of the tree’s distorted the appearance of the snow, making the entire forest feel like a kaleidoscope. Teddy only finally spotted the tracks when he was mere feet from them.

Knowing how Peter would hate him for destroying evidence, Teddy walked next to them, holding his wand high. The tracks were scattered, in a zig-zag pattern rather than in a straight line. Teddy followed them to a small clearing, barely within sight of where the body was now. Something squished under his boot, and Teddy looked down. The bright green insides of a small fruit oozed out of a purple peel.

He stared at it for moment, trying to think why the plant seemed so familiar, before a sour-smelling greenish smoke began wafting toward him. Teddy’s eyes widened; he held his breath and silently cast a Bubblehead Charm on himself. The smoke grew until it filled the clearing, making it impossible to see where he was going; he couldn’t even see the trees until they were right in front of him. Several times, he nearly popped the bubble protecting him on a stray branch. Finally, he thought he’d managed to make it out of the dense gas.

Suddenly, Teddy tripped over a root and stumbled, his hand plunging unprotected into cold snow. Neville, who had performed his own Bubblehead Charm, offered him a hand up, and with a flick of his wand, made the gas disparate. The two of them stared at one another. It was, after all, in Herbology that Teddy had first heard of the plant he had just encountered.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Professor, but Giah bushes aren’t native to the Forbidden Forest, are they?” he asked.

Neville shook his head, and the last hope of the colt’s death being a tragic accident vanished. Professor McGonagall knew this with needing to tell them; she pursed her lips and glanced down at Fred and James. Both of them were looking pale.

“I’ll let Morris and Harry know, but we need to inform the herd.” Teddy said.

He heard a rustling of leaves, and then watched as everyone turned slowly around. It took effort for Teddy not to curse his luck.

“Inform us of what?” said a cold and unfortunately familiar voice.

Like most Hogwarts students, both former and current, Teddy didn’t know most of the Centaurs. The Forest was their land, and they were not known for being kind to those who wandered in. However, Teddy did know two personally. He’d met Firenze through Harry, who had a cordial relationship with the centaur—Teddy was not sure it could be called a friendship. Bane, on the other hand, had never been cordial with any wizard—at least not as far as Teddy was aware.

Teddy turned his eyes yellow, wanting them to be more wolf-like, just in case. The only other time he had met Bane was as a first year, when Harry had shown Teddy his parents’ graves on the Hogwarts grounds.

“Evening, Bane,” said Teddy shortly.

“Wolf’s son.” Bane nodded at him. It was the same thing Bane had called Teddy all those years ago. He knew—by smell, perhaps—who and what Teddy’s father had been. He had never determined if the epithet was a compliment or insult, but he tended towards the latter.

“This forest is not your hunting ground. It is not your right to kill here,” Bane said, in the same low, flat voice he had spoken in before. He looked up at the night sky, and Teddy rolled his eyes. He knew Bane was checking the phase of the moon.

“Bane,” said Teddy. “This was not our doing. Students found one of yours at the edge of the forest. We have reason to believe that it was not an accident.”

Teddy glanced over his shoulder toward James and Fred. McGonagall had positioned herself in front of them, her wand held tightly in her hand, though she hadn’t pointed it at the centaur—yet. Bane looked away from the sky and back at Teddy. Even though he knew Bane would consider it rude, Teddy cut Bane off before he could speak again.

“They weren’t trespassing,” he said with a note of finality. “They only entered the forest after they saw the body.” Bane glared at him, but did not press the issue.

“Let me see.”

Teddy nodded, trying to ignore the feeling of dread in his stomach. With a twitch of his wand, he caused the bushes hiding the body to jump aside. There was a moment of silence as the centaur stared.

Teddy felt his hair stand up on end and reacted instantaneously. “James, Fred! Get inside Hagrid’s hut!” he shouted.

Bane roared in a ferocious anger. Teddy jumped in front of him as James and Fred sprinted away from the forest. His wand was knocked from his hand as Bane’s hoof crashed into his arm, breaking the bone and knocking him onto the ground. He heard a scream behind him, but had no time to find its source; he could only stare up at Bane’s front leg as it came crashing down towards him. He felt the briefest moment of pain, and then everything went black.

*

Quiet voices lulled Teddy back to reality. There seemed to be a drumming inside his head, trying to force its way through his skull. Even the effort of opening his eyes seemed to require too much strain, and sent the world spinning.

“Kingsley’s announcing it at the end of the week,” said a familiar female voice. “I want to run, but they’re going to want to know who will replace me.” Teddy tried to identify her, but thinking was difficult; every thought seemed to come much more slowly than it should.

“Hermione, I’m an Auror. I’m _Head_ Auror,” said a male voice, and Teddy immediately knew who was having the conversation. Harry and Hermione Granger, it seemed, were keeping him company, though as he was still unable to open his eyes, he wasn’t entirely sure where.

“A position you’ve been in for ten years now, Harry.”

“I don’t know a thing about running a department.”

“You run the Auror Department.” Hermione’s voice was full of satisfaction as she successfully overrode all of Harry’s arguments.

“Aurors are different,” said Harry. “Being Head just means I don’t wait for someone to sign off on an operation. I can’t stop being in the field. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done.” Teddy felt the surface he was lying on shift as Harry sat on what must be a bed.

“It’s Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry. You’ll be in the field.”

“You never are,” said Harry flatly.

“Only because you always were,” Hermione snapped back.

Teddy couldn’t stop the snicker that escaped from his mouth, and at last it seemed he was able to open his eyes. He had a momentary glance at both Harry and Hermione’s surprised faces before immediately shutting his eyes again. He had assumed it would still be nighttime, but judging by the amount of sunlight coming through the windows, it was probably closer to noon.

He carefully opened one eye, wishing his headache would disappear. “Where am I?” he asked, feeling the bandages around his head.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “Hospital wing at Hogwarts. Cracked skull, broken arm, and according to our new matron-in-training—you know Hannah Abbott; still works the pub on her days off—quite the concussion. She doesn’t want you Metamorphing anything on your head or face for a few days.”

Teddy sat up slowly, careful to try and avoid making the world spin again. He was not successful, and Harry had to stop him from falling off the bed.

“Easy does it,” he said. “You’ve been out nearly two days.”

 _“What?”_ Teddy said, loudly enough so that it aggravated his headache even more. “But my lecture for the first years—and what’s happened with the case? Is the whole team up at Hogwarts?”

“Everything’s fine, Ted. Peter did the lecture for you, and yes, your team is currently investigating the case—well, as much as the centaurs will let them. Bane won’t give us permission to examine the colt.”

“Why not?” Teddy asked looking from Harry and Hermione

“Because the child—Torne—was his son,” Hermione explained.

Teddy stared at the two of them. Relations with the centaurs had never been great, but Harry had always expressed hope that after being given the forest back, some of the bad blood would begin to dissipate. Firenze had been allowed back into the herd, and they seemed uninterested in anything but their stars and their trees.

Hermione stood and fastened her cloak over what Teddy noticed were at least three Weasley sweaters. “Speaking of which, I’d better go and see Hagrid,” she said. “The centaurs always liked him better than the rest of us. At the very least, they allow him in the forest. Glad you’re all right, Teddy.”

She wrapped an old Gryffindor scarf around her neck and put on a pointed hat. “Just think about it, all right, Harry?” She gave him a final look that Teddy couldn’t interpret before leaving the hospital wing and closing the door softly behind her.


	16. Back to School

Teddy was released from the hospital wing shortly before lunch. It felt strange to be wandering the Hogwarts corridors with his godfather. Teddy had a lot of fondness for the school: it was a comfort to know that at one point, both of his parents had walked on the same stone, and perhaps even sat in the same classrooms. He glanced at Harry, whose hands seemed permanently attached to his cloak pockets. Teddy remembered all the speeches and stories about Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts growing up. Considering how his godfather had been raised before the age of eleven, it was no surprise that he had considered his school his real home. 

There was little of that wonder in Harry’s eyes now. Indeed, he seemed loath to look at anything but the stone floor. Teddy wondered who Harry had seen die in this corridor, but knew better than to ask. 

They turned a corner and found themselves in the entrance hall. There was a mass of black, as students of all ages were bustling to and from classes, many making their way into the Great Hall for lunch. Teddy saw several of them glance at the two adults, their eyes flickering to Harry’s scar and Teddy’s hair. Hannah had given him a potion that froze his ability to morph, but it was only now that he realized he hadn’t seen a mirror since he woke up. He had no idea what his hair currently looked like. He tried to flatten it down and see the color, but it was too short for him to see.

“Don’t worry,” Harry said, as they joined the throngs of students and allowed themselves to be swept into the Great Hall. “It's your natural color. Probably the longest it's ever been like that.”

They walked passed the four house tables; Teddy’s eyes lingered on Victoire’s blond hair at Gryffindor’s. He was here for work, not to spend time with her, he had to remind himself, as for the first time in his life he sat at the staff table. He felt like a kid allowed to sit with the adults for the first time at Christmas. The headmistress sat only a few chairs away, sipping at her tea and staring intently at the sports section of The Daily Prophet.

Harry instantly began a long conversation with Neville, and as Teddy had no interest in interrupting McGonagall's dedicated study of the current Quidditch standings, he entertained himself by watching the students. It was easy to spot most of the people he knew. All he had to do was look for red hair, and then often beside them was another relative. A full half of the Gryffindor table seemed to be occupied by members of the Weasley family. Indeed, forcing his eyes away from Victoire, Teddy could easily see Roxanne a few seats down, talking closely with James and her brother Fred. Loius, now in his second year, sat further down, engrossed in a book, and Rose chatted amiably with what looked like the other Gryffindor first years.

At the Ravenclaw table sat Lucy, her prefect’s badge glittering on her robes as she chatted with several other Ravenclaw sixth years. Dominique also were a prefect badge, but it seemed temporarily forgotten while she enchanted a paper airplane to fly into the back of Fred’s head.

As there was no one he knew at the Hufflepuff table anymore, Teddy’s eyes moved over to the Slytherins. Albus stood out like a sore thumb. There seemed to be an empty space next to him, separating Albus from the rest of Slytherin house. To say he looked miserable was an understatement. He spoke to nobody until a scrawny looking blond boy came and sat next to him. The two began chatting animatedly at once.

“What do you think, Ted?” 

Harry’s voice interrupted Teddy’s examination of the students. He stopped staring at the Slytherin table and looked over at Harry blankly.

“Sorry?”

“Well, we are in a school, after all. We can't let the investigation become muddied with student’s rumors and theories.”

Teddy thought for a moment. He didn’t want to voice his theory without any proof, but they also didn’t have any other leads yet. 

“Well,” he said, “I would say that the person who did this has to be someone who, at the very least, has regular access to the school. I mean, the berries weren’t just tossed in the Forest. Someone had to plant the bushes. At the beginning of the school year, I’d guess.” He looked over at professor Longbottom, who nodded.

“At most, those bushes are only a month or so old,” Neville said.

The three of them glanced out at the Great Hall. It suddenly looked far less inviting with the knowledge that any witch or wizard sitting inside could be a murderer. Teddy did not like to believe that any of the teachers or staff would do such a thing. Especially since the newest addition was Neville, and the rest had been around for years.

He glanced back at everyone he knew at the Gryffindor table. He was not keen on having to interrogate the students, either. Despite himself, his eyes moved to the Slytherin table again. Whistler was a Slytherin, after all, and so was Albus. There was no reason to suspect them over any other house.

After lunch, Teddy and Harry made their way down to the dungeons as Neville left for the greenhouses. Rather than for anything to do with potions, they were there for the makeshift bullpen for Morris’ team, which had been set up in an empty classroom. When he and Harry entered, Morris, Whistler and Peter were already discussing the case. They paused and looked up as Teddy joined the group.

“All right, Lupin?” Morris asked.

Teddy rubbed the still-tender part of his head, but nodded. “Any new leads while I was, er, taking a snooze?”

“Is that what we’re calling an Auror being attacked by a maniac?” Whistler said coolly.

“Grieving fathers can act rashly,” Morris said under his breath. Teddy wasn’t sure anyone but him had heard. If they had, no one responded.

There was a moment of awkward silence: no one wanted to continue the current conversation. Teddy glanced at Whistler, who seemed to be in sour mood. Teddy raised an eyebrow, but she shook her head as if to say “not now”.

“Well, Hagrid was allowed to take a look at the body,” said Morris, when nobody else volunteered. “It’s the closest we’re going to get to an examination. He thinks the boy died between seven and eight that night.”

“Hmm. I was coming up from Hogsmeade not long before then,” said Teddy. “I would have seen someone heading towards the forest.”

Whistler drummed her fingers on one of the old Potions tables. “Doesn’t matter. Those bushes were planted at the beginning of the year. Whoever is responsible was probably just waiting for a centaur to accidently come across them.”

“Meaning what, Shacklebolt?” Morris asked.

“Meaning our suspect pool contains anyone who might have had a chance to wander into the forest since the first of September,” she said.

Both Morris and Harry looked exhausted at the prospect of interviewing essentially every person in the castle. There was no telling if this was an experiment gone wrong by an uneducated student, or if there was something more sinister at work. It wasn’t as if they could slip Veritaserum into the pumpkin juice at breakfast. They didn’t need to know every secret of every single Hogwarts student.

“We might be able to narrow down the suspect pool,” said Peter. “We can focus on those students who are good at Herbology, as well as the NEWT and OWL students, and anyone who Professor Longbottom feels is particularly talented. Giah berries don’t grow in the UK, so that also means anyone who's recently traveled to a place where they do grow, or has the funds get them on the black market. And on top of that… the teachers might know certain students who have anti-half-breed sentiments; kids of families who have a history of this sort of thing.”

“Not every Death Eater’s kid wants to follow in their parents’ footsteps,” Whistler said coldly.

“Well, obviously not, but it would be dangerous to ignore that as a possibility.”

“Let’s hold that option in reserve,” Morris said, with a sideways glance at Whistler. “For now, focus on those students who would know about the Giah bushes. If nothing turns up, then we can expand.”

The three of them nodded.

“I think it will go over best if I take the Slytherins. We don’t want them to feel ganged up on,” Whistler said, and Morris nodded his approval.

“Lupin, we can't have you interviewing anyone you know. Best take the Ravenclaws, and any family you have in there I’ll take care of. Peter, you do the Hufflepuffs, and I’ll survey the Gryffindors.”

Everyone nodded and reached into their bags for parchment and quills, to copy down further instructions. Teddy had just unscrewed his ink bottle when there came a sharp rap at the door. It swung open before Morris could say a word.

Neville Longbottom stood in the doorway, and he looked livid.


End file.
